Sir Ed Davey thinks the UK should build a “fully independent [nuclear] deterrent”, presumably involving British missiles, rather than use American Trident missiles which are currently the delivery vehicle for British nukes.
Do you agree with him?
Yes, I fully agree, and Canada needs a nuclear deterrent as well.
Do I believe we should funnel billions of pounds of our money into the pockets of arms manufacturers, just so we can have independent control of a weapon whose entire point is to never be fired?
Sure, why not? But can we please sort out some of the more important shit first?
Being able to secure your own sovereignty is pretty top of the list of your concerns.
Weapons dont need to be fired in order to be effective, nor a good use of money.
In fact, effective weapons you don’t ever fire, is a way better use of money than one’s you need to use.
Fair points. But defence might be a sensible thing to spend money on, in a world where stronger powers (Russia, US, Israel) are deciding to attack weaker powers (Ukraine, Iran, Palestine) just because they feel like it
Sure. But is billions on something we already have (but need the USA to help maintain) really the best use of defence spending? Because I bet there are a hundred other areas in defence where disentangling ourselves from the USA would be wise.
Yes, because they are being used to defend against the person supplying your weapons.
100% right!
Yes.
Not just in this area but in most other areas too. Extract ourselves from US dependencies and be more strategically independent. Food, energy, IT (a big one), defence (another big one).
The problem is this won’t be easy. You think Brexit was a nightmare. Separation from the US is going to be way harder.
You forgot finance, visa and MasterCard should not exist outside of the US.
Fair one. That too.
I would prefer we integrate more closely with Europe. Depend on a more dependable neighbour.
I guess the UK should build up independent capabilities first, before pulling away from the US. Also maybe the UK should seek greater ties with the EU, which together can become independent from the US. The costs of strategic independence could then be shared across the EU.
Lib Dems agree with the Greens then.
The UK is a failed state and cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons.
The guy with the 2nd key for launching the nukes will inevitably be down at the pub anyway.
