The next British government will have to take a critically important military and foreign policy decision, which has been almost entirely absent from the public debate. In the next five years a choice will have to be made on whether and how to replace the strategic nuclear ‘deterrent’ in a world where deterrence may not work.
The 2003 Defence White Paper said that such a decision was not needed in this parliament, but was ‘likely to be required’ in the next. Given the Labour Party’s long-standing divided views on nuclear weapons, and the changed strategic world order, this is going to be a difficult choice. It is certainly not something the government wants raised in the run-up to an election.
