Trident spending to account for one third of defence budget within a decade

The Royal United Services Institute forecast “submarine and deterrent spending” is set to account for around 35 per cent of the total core procurement budget by 2021/22.

In the paper, Mid-Term Blues? Defence and the 2013 Spending Review, Prof Malcolm Chalmers, RUSI’s research director, said there was “no prospect of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreeing before the next general election” on the successor to Trident which will need to be decommissioned in 2024.

He said that from 2016/17 onwards – when a final decision on Trident will be taken - spending on the successor to Trident will rise sharply.

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