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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=634934

PM secretly signs up to new deterrent as UN tries to cut
global threat
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor

02 May 2005

Tony Blair has secretly decided that Britain will build a
new generation of nuclear deterrent to replace the ageing
Trident submarine fleet at a cost of more than £10bn - a
move certain to dismay thousands of Labour Party loyalists
in the approach to polling day.

The disclosure that the decision has already been taken will
expose Mr Blair - who has struggled throughout the election
campaign to fend off accusations that he lied over the Iraq
war - to fresh allegations of deception. He said last week
that the decision would be taken after 5 May.

But The Independent has learnt that he has already decided
to give the go ahead for a replacement for Trident to stop
Britain surrendering its status as a nuclear power when the
Trident fleet is decommissioned. The choice over the type of
nuclear missile system that Britain will deploy is yet to be
made. One Labour candidate described the new deterrent as
"Blair's weapons of mass destruction".

The revelation comes as the United Nations hosts a
five-yearly review of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty,
to which Britain is a signatory. The five nuclear powers in
the treaty promise to work towards global nuclear
disarmament. Mr Blair will therefore face accusations of
hypocrisy, for pressing other states, such as Iran and North
Korea, to renounce their suspect nuclear weapons programmes
while planning a new British deterrent.

..

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