Letter: Trident test

While announcement of a government review of alternatives to Trident (your report, 19 May) is welcome, it will be a pointless exercise if it uses the same crusty old arguments as those last used 30 years ago to justify the original acquisition of the system.

The critical thing isn't the review itself, but the politically-driven capability assumptions on which it is based, which will effectively determine the outcome the review.

Before a review is conducted, the government must come clean on what its remit will be, what basis assumptions it will employ, and justify them in the context of today's very different world order. Otherwise, it will leave itself open to accusations of rigging the review to suit its desired outcome.

Last October's Strategic Defence & Security Review (SDSR) inflicted disproportionate cuts on Britain's conventional forces, and skewed the bias of our defences too far towards our nuclear deterrence.

The SDSR failed to recognise the vulnerabilities and ease of compromise of a UK Trident deterrent invested (at most) in two submarines at any given time. To compound matters, it has made our nuclear deterrent more vulnerable by denying it the wherewithal to protect itself properly.

With the government now saying the SDSR cuts weren't enough, it must surely be time to open up debate on the future of Britain's Strategic Nuclear Deterrent, and keep what remains of our conventional defences intact.

I'm not just talking about Trident replacement; I'm asking whether it makes sense to keep operating our existing dedicated fleet of four Trident submarines, with their double crews, when we can't even afford the Maritime Patrol Aircraft to "de-louse" them and get them out to sea safely.

The implications of last year's SDSR were that we now must rely on our allies for a host of critical conventional defence capabilities. If our nation is as cash-strapped as the Tories inist, questions must surely be raised as to whether it is now also time to rely on our allies for nuclear defence too.

(DR) MARK CAMPBELL-RODDIS

Pont Crescent

Dunblane, Perthshire