Defence Becomes Hot Topic In UK Election.

Defence has become a hot political topic in the United Kingdom ahead of the country's upcoming May general election.

Defence Becomes Hot Topic In UK Election

Just as in the last general election in 2010, the future of the country's nuclear deterrent is the centre for disagreement between the various parties vying for power.

Tensions between the parties over defence issues were raised significantly on 9 April when the incumbent UK defence secretary, Conservative Michael Fallon, claimed that the opposition Labour Party would "stab the UK in the back" by doing a post-election deal with the (fiercely pro-disarmament) Scottish National Party (SNP) that would derail the replacement for the UK's nuclear deterrent. These claims were denied with venom by the Labour Party.

Fallon also committed any Conservative government to replacing the current four Vanguard-class boats on a like-for-like basis.

The Labour Party has stated it would maintain continuous at-sea deterrence (CASD), but may be open to reducing the number of UK nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) to three. 

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats favour retaining a reduced UK deterrent capability that would include the abandonment of CASD, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) would replace Trident on a like-for-like basis, while the SNP, Plaid Cymru, and the Greens would abolish the deterrent altogether. Based on current polling the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens look likely to hold the balance of power following the general election. It is on their disarmament stance that the Conservative Party is seeking to make political headway against the Labour Party (who would be these minority parties' natural bedfellow in any new coalition government).

The Trident replacement was previously a hot topic in the May 2010 general election, fought along broadly the same policy lines as currently seen among the main parties. The ongoing debate about the project (known as Successor) is a result of the October 2010 decision by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government to delay the final, 'Main Gate', decision on Successor until 2016.

While the debate over the Successor programme is an important one for the United Kingdom, and the Royal Navy in particular, none of the main three parties have made any commitment to maintaining UK defence spending at 2% of GDP - a threshold the country is in danger of falling below.