- An extra £600m will be ploughed into new the UK’s dreadnought’ submarines
- Theresa May said the extra cash will help ensure the vessels are made on time
- Submarines will carry the Trident deterrent when current Vanguard class is axed
- PM has come under pressure to find extra money for the Armed Forces budgets
An extra £600 million will be ploughed into a new generation of ‘dreadnought’ submarine which will carry Britain’s nuclear deterrent, the PM today announced.
Theresa May said the the extra cash will ensure the state-of-the-art vessels are made on time.
The submarines will carry the Trident deterrent when the current Vanguard class is scrapped.
The Prime Minister has been under pressure to plough more cash into Britain’s military budgets to ensure they can take on the renewed threats posed by states like Russia
Announcing the cash injection in PMQs today, Mrs May said that overall the Ministry of Defence (MoD) would have an extra £800 million in the next financial year.
An extra £600 million will be ploughed into a new generation of ‘dreadnought’ submarine which will carry Britain’s nuclear deterrent, Theresa May (pictured in PMQs today) said
She said: ‘I can announce today the Chancellor and I have agreed that the Ministry of Defence will have access to £600 million this coming financial year for the MoD’s dreadnought submarine programme.
‘Today’s announcement will ensure that the work to rebuild the UK’s new world class nuclear submarines remains on schedule and it’s another sign of the deep commitment this Government has to keeping our country safe.
‘And along with the £200 million carry forward agreed at the supplementary estimates.
‘This means the MoD will benefit from an extra £800 million in the next financial year and we continue to exceed the Nato two per cent target and remain the second biggest defence spender in Nato.’
Britain is currently carrying out a defence review and military top brass hope that ministers will agree to find extra money for the Armed Forces after it is done.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has dropped several public hints that he is hopeful that his department will get more money.
The dreadnought submarines will carry the Trident deterrent when the current Vanguard class (pictured) is scrapped
While his predecessor in the job, Sir Michael Fallon, has urged the Treasury to find more money for defence – saying the Nato 2 per cent target should be a floor not a cap.
The issue of Britain’s defences has raised up the political agenda in recent months following the a spate of terror attacks cyber hacks and the renewed threat posed by Russia.
The UK saw five terror attacks take place in the UK last year – killing over 100 people.
While the poisoning of Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok has raised fresh questions about how the UK is defending itself against Moscow.
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