Richard Benyon, MP for Newbury, has supported the Government in the renewal of the delivery system for the Trident nuclear missiles.
He gave his backing during the debate on the UK’s nuclear deterrent in the House of Commons on Monday 18th July.
In his speech, Mr Benyon made particular reference to the work of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston. He said: “The nuclear deterrent is my constituency’s largest employer, and it brings many advantages, not least to the supply chain of 275 local companies and 1,500 supply chain organisations nationally.”
He went on to praise the work of AWE’s civil nuclear work and its role in advising the Government on counter-terrorism, the effect it has on nuclear threat reduction, on forensics—not least in the recent Litvinenko inquiry—and on non-proliferation, together with its second-to-none apprenticeship scheme and its academic collaboration with the Orion laser.
But he said, “None of that would matter one jot if the decision we were taking today was wrong. The decision we are taking today is right.” MPs voted by 472 to 117 votes in favour of renewal.