UK needs nuclear deterrent independent from US, Ed Davey to say

Lib Dem leader will tell spring conference Britain can no longer rely on US while Donald Trump is president Britain should have a completely independent nuclear deterrent as it can no longer rely on the US, Ed Davey is expected to say on Sunday. In a speech at the Liberal Democrats spring conference, the party leader will argue that the UK should manufacture and maintain its nuclear weapons in Britain, a move that Davey acknowledges will cost billions. Davey’s speech will come amid his claims that the US president, Donald Trump, has made his support for European security “conditional” on his personal whims. “While Trump is in charge, we certainly cannot rely on America as a dependable ally in the way we used to,” Davey will say. “And we can no longer bet our nation’s security on the hope that the US won’t produce new versions of Trump in the future. “So the real question is not whether we should build a sovereign British nuclear deterrent. The question is what happens if we don’t.” In theory, a British prime minister could choose to launch nuclear missiles without input from allies, including the US. However, the UK’s nuclear programme, Trident, based at Faslane, near Glasgow, on t