Putting Trident on the block will show that Cameron is serious about spending cuts: cancellation is now a real possibility

Abstract

The recent row between Liam Fox and the Treasury over the cost of renewing the UK’s nuclear deterrent shows that there are no longer any more public spending ‘sacred cows’ that can be funded without question. And Nick Clegg’s recent unscripted answers critical of Trident suggest that there is a bloc of Liberal Democrat ministers in Cabinet who will back the Treasury line and the Tory realists who want to protect conventional forces. Chris Brown looks at the divisions within the coalition government over the renewal of the programme, and finds that its future is far from certain