Chancellor: MOD must pay for Trident

The UK chancellor George Osborne has insisted that the billions of pounds that it will cost to buy a replacement for the UK’s Trident missile system must be met by the Ministry of Defence.

The initial £20bn cost of replacing the nuclear weapons system, which is normally met by the Treasury, must come from the MOD’s budget, and the ministry will also be responsible for paying for the running costs, estimated at another £80bn.

This is a blow for Tory defence minister Liam Fox who told the BBC earlier this month that the capital costs should be met by the Treasury, as they have been in the past.

Dr Fox also told the Daily Telegraph last week that the armed forces were not able to meet all its obligations to defend the country.

The new coalition government has come in for much criticism for what many see as undue haste in making very deep cuts to public expenditure.

Normally governments of the right, however much they want to cut public spending, do not like to cut defence budgets.

They see defence and national security as their natural territory and an area where high spending is helpful electorally.

(It was George Bush who described Ronald Reagan’s plans to cut taxes, increase defence spending and balance the budget as ‘voodoo economics.’)

It will be interesting to see whether this decision rebounds on the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition.

Cuts in other public services might be seen as having more of an impact on Labour voters, not only the public employees but the people who depend on their services.

Cuts in MOD spending will not only affect military personal but more crucially the UK’s defence industry, often based in the Tories’ southeastern heartlands.

Or Nick Clegg or Danny Alexander can convince their Tory counterparts to rethink the plan to automatically replace Trident.

All of which might allow Labour to attack the government, not only on spending cuts, but on being soft on defence and national security.