Prime Minister David Cameron says the UK would be foolish to do away with its Trident nuclear weapons system, in the face of threats from Iran and North Korea.  He says threats have actually risen since the end of the Cold War.

Cameron’s Lib-Dem coalition partners are urging the government to seek cheaper submarine or land-based options.  But Conservative Cameron is committed to maintaining a round-the-clock submarine-based nuclear missile system.

Visiting a defense contractor in Glasgow, Cameron said, “We cannot be sure on issues of nuclear proliferation, and to me having that nuclear deterrent is quite simply the best insurance policy that you can have, that you will never be subject to nuclear blackmail.”

But the Scottish National Party says it would not allow nuclear weapons to be based in Scotland, if it wins next year’s referendum on Scottish Independence.  That would and billions to the already high cost of maintaining the latest generation of the kind of nuclear defense that Britain has had since the late 1960s.