Alan Reid, Liberal Democrat MP for Argyll & Bute, questioned Leader of the House of Commons Harriet Harman on difficulties the Ministry of Defences faces designing the replacement Trident submarines.

The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons published a report last Thursday morning which pointed out that the UK will have to design and build replacement Trident submarines which will still be in service when the US changes the Trident missiles in 2042. This means that the UK is faced with the problem of designing the submarine missile compartment long before we know the size and shape of the missiles.Alan Reid MP: Argyll & Bute

Mr Reid raised this problem during Question Time in the House of Commons on Thursday.

The exchange was

Mr. Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute) (LD): Can we have an urgent statement from the Defence Secretary in response to this morning’s report by the Public Accounts Committee on the future of the UK’s nuclear deterrence capacity. The Committee points out that Britain will have to design the new submarines before the United States designs the new missiles that will have go into them. As the Committee points out, it will be difficult to design a missile compartment before knowing the design of the missile, so can we have an urgent response from the Defence Secretary?

Ms Harman: We welcome the Public Accounts Committee report. The defence equipment Minister has said:

“Our ability to maintain the Trident nuclear deterrent is not in doubt... Although I recognise the timelines are challenging, I remain very confident that we will deliver a new submarine on time and maintain our continuous at-sea deterrence.”

It is a challenging timetable, but the Minister expressed his confidence and there will be a defence debate next Thursday.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Reid said;

“The problem of designing a submarine missile compartment before knowing the size and shape of the missile is indeed challenging. I have tabled a Parliamentary Question to the Defence Secretary asking how he plans to overcome this challenge”.