A UK political party has set a precedent in being the first to announce it will not support a replacement for the Trident SLBM (Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile). In comments made to the Guardian newspaper, Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, linked the party's decision to the country's rapid economic downturn, highlighting simultaneously how a nuclear weapon of Trident's capability was unnecessary in the modern world.

According to information freely available in the public domain, Trident is forty-four feet long, capable of striking targets in excess of 4,500 miles away and costs close-on £17 million apiece, not including the associated running costs. The missile has been in Royal Navy service since 1994, and it is thought that a single Trident has the power to cause eight times the damage unleashed on Hiroshima by the US military in 1945.

The Liberal Democrats declaration represents a public first but, behind the scenes, a number of MPs are said to share similar views. Its just that none have been capable of convincing party leaders of the strength of their arguments.

"New leadership in Russia, new leadership obviously in the White House and a wider geostrategic appreciation means that a cold war missile system designed to penetrate Soviet defences and land in Moscow and St Petersburg at any time, in any weather, from any location anywhere round the planet, is not our foremost security challenge now", Mr Clegg said.

"We have got to be grown-up and honest about it. Given that we need to ask ourselves big questions about what our priorities are, we have arrived at the view that a like-for-like Trident replacement is not the right thing to do."

Need for Trident Missile

Clegg's comments could spark a governmental review into the use of/ need for the Trident missile or a replacement Trident, on account of the financial aspects of it. At present, all areas of public spending are facing cuts, on account of the huge debt the UK has found itself in as it tries to dig a way out of financial recession. Having said this, Trident is the only non-detectable missile deterrent in present British military service, and other alternatives are too expensive. The UK has already spent £14.9 billion acquiring the system, and withdrawing the system would probably result in a huge waste of public money.

One option put forward by Mr Clegg was for the UK to adopt a similar strategy to Japan, which has a reserve of nuclear material from which weapons could be assembled within a short timeframe.

Trident remains a controversial issue among a portion of the British public. On June 15th, a demonstration took place at a site that builds components for the SLBM - the Berkshire-based Atomic Weapons Establishment. The demonstration resulted in 11 charges being given out for wilful obstruction.

North Korean Nuclear Programme

In related nuclear-themed news, North Korea has threatened the West with large-scale military retaliation if it is provoked - the latest threat in a series of similar events linked to the perceived state of the country's nuclear programme.

The warming spoke of a "thousand-fold" level of military response and came hot on the heels of US President Barack Obama's declaration that North Korea represented a "grave threat", adding that a new wave of United Nations sanctions would be regimentally imposed on it.

On June 16th, President Obama was in discussions with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Myung-bak, the result of which was a firm agreement to forge a "strategic alliance" to head efforts to denuclearise North Korea.