Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Trident and Northern Ireland
Trident
Asked to confirm that the Prime Minister, at PMQs today, was not agreeing with John Denham MP that there should be another vote before any contracts are awarded, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the future would have to look after itself. Today what Parliament was deciding was to make the decision to replace Trident or not. It needed to make a decision now otherwise the process could not begin.
Asked exactly what the decision would be on as the Prime Minister had suggested design and concept of the submarines but not the missiles or warheads, the PMOS said that the decision would be made on what is necessary at this stage, that we send a signal to industry that we are going ahead with this, to comply with the seventeen year time table it will take for concept, design, manufacture and then commissioning and testing. That broke down to: two years concept and assessment; seven years for detailed design; seven years for manufacture; and one to two years for commissioning and testing.
Asked how much it cost to do a concept assessment, the PMOS said he did not have the details and he doubted the Ministry of Defence would give the details as the project would have to go out to tender. Asked if the sum was quite small compared to the twenty billion pounds, the PMOS said that the decision today was to decide on whether or not a replacement was needed.
Put to him that the Prime Minister, at PMQs, suggested that if plans came to a point that it was decided not to build the submarines was he not just trying to do the right thing by BAe by keeping the specialist skills here, the PMOS said what the Prime Minister was essentially saying was that the future will look after itself and the future will decide what the future decides. What needs to be decided now is whether or not to get on with the process.
Northern Ireland
Asked about the meeting between the Prime Minister, Mr Paisley and Mr Adams, the PMOS said that the meetings had been a chance for the Prime Minister to get their assessment of where we were after the election, working towards the 26th March and to see what we need to do before the 26th March. He added that everyone now realised that we were serious about the 26th March and therefore a decision will have to be made. It is up to the parties to make that decision. They know what the message from the doorstep was. Asked about the nominations deadline, the PMOS said that that would come in due course.
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