{"id":476672,"date":"2026-03-15T09:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T09:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/476672\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T09:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T09:12:09","slug":"uk-needs-nuclear-deterrent-independent-from-us-ed-davey-to-say-ed-davey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/476672\/","title":{"rendered":"UK needs nuclear deterrent independent from US, Ed Davey to say | Ed Davey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain should have a completely independent nuclear deterrent as it can no longer rely on the US, Ed Davey<\/a> is expected to say on Sunday.<\/p>\n

In a speech at the Liberal Democrats<\/a> spring conference, the party leader will argue that the UK should manufacture and maintain its nuclear weapons in Britain, a move that Davey acknowledges will cost billions.<\/p>\n

Davey\u2019s speech will come amid his claims that the US president, Donald Trump, has made his support for European security \u201cconditional\u201d on his personal whims.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Trump is in charge, we certainly cannot rely on America as a dependable ally in the way we used to,\u201d Davey will say. \u201cAnd we can no longer bet our nation\u2019s security on the hope that the US won\u2019t produce new versions of Trump in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the real question is not whether we should build a sovereign British nuclear deterrent. The question is what happens if we don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

In theory, a British prime minister could choose to launch nuclear missiles without input from allies, including the US.<\/p>\n

However, the UK\u2019s nuclear programme, Trident, based at Faslane, near Glasgow, on the River Clyde, is heavily dependent on US input. The weapons are manufactured in the US and have to be returned there regularly for maintenance.<\/p>\n

Ed Davey answering questions during the Liberal Democrats spring conference in York on Saturday. Photograph: James Manning\/PA<\/p>\n

Davey\u2019s speech is likely to be viewed as the latest instalment of what has been dubbed Operation Epsom Fury \u2013 a play on Trump\u2019s Iranian mission and an attempt to attract voters disillusioned by Britain\u2019s relationship with the president ahead of May\u2019s local elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the answer to \u2018Is our nuclear deterrent working?\u2019 depends on what Donald Trump had for breakfast, then the answer is, \u2018No, it\u2019s not\u2019. And our deterrent is not truly independent,\u201d Davey is expected to tell delegates in York.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should be keeping British defence planners awake at night. Yet it\u2019s not being asked loudly enough in our public debate. Perhaps because Conservative- and Reform-supporting commentators don\u2019t want to face up to the profound implications of Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur nuclear deterrent \u2013 the ultimate guarantor of our national security, the thing that successive governments of every stripe have described as the bedrock of Britain\u2019s defence \u2013 is not fully ours.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trident missiles sitting in our Vanguard submarines are leased from the United States. Their maintenance depends on American facilities. And that means the operability of our deterrent ultimately depends on the goodwill of whoever sits in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few years ago, that didn\u2019t feel like an issue. It certainly feels like one now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davey will cite Trump\u2019s threat to annex Greenland and his apparent failure to take the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to task over the war in Ukraine as evidence that he is an increasingly unreliable ally.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe and his White House lackeys have made it clear, repeatedly and unmistakably, that American support for European security is conditional,\u201d Davey will say. \u201cConditional on European countries doing what Trump wants, whether on trade, relations with China, or just being nice to him. Certainly nothing to do with the values and alliances that have kept us safe for 80 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davey is expected to concede that building a nuclear capability without US input would would \u201ccost billions over the next two decades\u201d at a time when defence spending is already under pressure.<\/p>\n

However, he will add that instead of \u201chanding billions of taxpayers\u2019 hard-earned cash to the American defence and technology industry\u201d the money should be invested in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s invest in British science and manufacturing, build up our defence industry, and guarantee a fully independent deterrent we can truly rely on, no matter who sits in the Oval Office,\u201d he will say.<\/p>\n

The Liberal Democrats have said they remain committed to the goal of multilateral nuclear disarmament.<\/p>\n

However, Davey will say: \u201cWith Vladimir Putin sitting on a stockpile of more than 5,000 nuclear warheads, we must deal with the world as it is. Trump\u2019s reckless, unpredictable presidency \u2013 and the reality that we can no longer count on America as we once assumed we could \u2013 is a challenge we cannot ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain should have a completely independent nuclear deterrent as it can no longer rely on the US, Ed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-476672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}