£178 billion cost over the expected lifetime of the new subs according to Crispin Blunt, Chair of Foreign Affairs SC.
And that's just the technologies of today or the very near future. Detection capabilities in 10, 20, 30 years time, considering the speed at which technology is advancing, are probably something we haven't even imagined yet.
Submarines are no easier to find now than in 1996. The Russians deploy hunter-killer boats outside Faslane to see where our Vanguard boats go, and we do it to them. But they are hard to track because they are so quiet.
He is not electable. The man has no skills to lead, apart from a few pretty words. The first duty of a PM is to protect the people and he would surrender to any threat rather than compromise his precious pacifism.
As you've (rightly) pointed out, the non-submarine options have already become vulnerable due to the reasons you've listed.
Yes, the are right in the path of the Russians. They have demothballed their Leopard 2 MBT fleet as Putin has tripled his defence budget and become more aggressive.
No, they shelter under the U.S. umbrella, just as, as per my previous comments re-U.S. technology incorporated into the new setup, the UK will be doing despite (supposedly) having her own nuclear weapons on the new nuclear subs (which will likely be easily detectable by the time they become operational, but certainly during their operational lifetime - the point you, and supporters of the new subs, continuously keep ignoring and sidestepping).
What, so the British and French SSBNs don't factor into NATO, Russian and Chinese planning? Nonsense.
Ok, if you want to evoke Reichmarshall Goering - the pacifism of Chamberlain and Halifax would have seen Britain reduced to a Nazi client state in 1940. Totalitarianism would hold sway across Europe to this day. Fortunately the hawks took over HM Gov, that horror was beaten down at dreadful cost, and democracy restored to Europe.
Yes, sure. The Russians and Chinese are quaking in their boots at the thought of Britain and France letting off nukes in their direction without Uncle Sam's say so whilst Uncle Sam sits on the bylines and watches.
Imaginary future detection technology? You obviously missed this from the earlier post.
And that's just a couple of examples. There are many more.
Stalking horse, as I predicted.
Uncle Sam might withdraw from NATO. This is the point of the independent deterrent. As for detection systems, submarines were not rendered obsolete by the invention of ASDIC or homing torpedoes. The submariners will develop countermeasures. Different hull coatings, jamming systems, decoys. This is the nature of war technology.
Just for a second imagine Owen Smith winning and Corbyn plus his supporters accepting defeat and getting behind Smith. Can you honestly see the Blairite crowd, ie most of the 'big beasts' you mention, embracing Smith fully and not doing something similar to Smith (albeit to a lesser extent), a year or two down the road, than what they've been doing to Corbyn for the last 10 months - in fact from the moment Corbyn's victory was announced and most of them resigned their shadow ministerial posts on the spot?
Sure, if he is competent.
Most of them seem to be concentrated in the South East. I don't think there are many swing seats there available for LAB to make real gains. They would do better to focus on getting left-leaning Scotland back from the SNP.
They've tried every dirty trick in the book thus far.
Hmmm. The Blairites are not the same as the Tories IMO. They doubled the NHS budget, and invested heavily in education, for instances. The Tories hated Blair. The New Labour Party will ally with the Lib Dems and perhaps absorb them.
Of course not. Plenty of Labour left MPs oppose Mr Corbyn. The Corbynistas use "Blairites" to mean anyone who disagrees with them.
Apart from Seamus Milne (First in PPE at Oxford, like Cameron and Ed Balls) the Labour left have no brains trust either.
I can. The services are more reliable and the staff are smarter dressed and more pleasant. BR was truly awful.
"One of them is no deselection [of MPs]" - Those in safe Labour seats have cushy jobs for life. Some didn't even need to be selected as candidates by the Local Constituency Labour Parties when they first stood for Parliament as they were parachuted in by Labour HQ - ie Tony Blair and his cohorts, because they had the 'right connections'. (eg Ed & David Miliband, Hilary Benn -just to name three).
