Government rejects councillors’ call for ‘less nukes, more trains’

THE UK’s Ministry of Defence has rejected calls from councillors in Fermanagh and Omagh to drop its nuclear weapons programme and invest the money into Tyrone’s railways.

At a meeting in February, councillors requested that the district council write to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “reallocate” the nuclear weapons funds into local transport.

In a letter sent by Allison McCullagh, the council’s chief executive, to the Prime Minister, she wrote, “Members requested that I write to you to highlight the substantial funding which is being allocated by your Government to the Trident Nuclear Weapons System.

“Members requested that you reallocate the funds from Trident and use this to fund the reinstatement of the railway system to our district.”

The Trident programme is the UK’s permanent at-sea nuclear armed submarine and consists of four Vanguard-class submarines, which can carry up to eight Trident missiles. In 2016, parliament voted to replace the ageing submarines at a cost of more than £30 billion.

In response to the council’s
letter, the Defence Nuclear Organisation Secretariat responded, “The UK’s nuclear deterrent
exists to deter the most extreme threats to our national security and way of life, and it will remain essential for as long as the
global security environment demands.

“We recognise the cost of maintaining and renewing the deterrent is substantial, but the defence of the UK and its interests is a critical task that must continue to be delivered alongside the Government’s other commitments. We can assure you the costs have been, and will continue to be, subjected to cross-Government scrutiny.”

The response included assurances from the Northern Ireland Office
that the All-Island Strategic Rail Review, the consultation of which closed in January, would be examining issues of regional rail connectivity.