To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will assess the suitability of the Trident weapons system as a deterrent during the rest of its serviceable lifetime; and whom and what Trident is intended to deter. (104981)

[holding answer 7 December 2006]: I refer the hon. Member to the statement my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister gave on 4 December concerning the future of the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent and the White Paper published on the same day.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the US has (a) power of veto and (b) technological veto over the launch of the Trident nuclear deterrent. (105080)

No. The US has no veto over the launch of the UK’s Trident missiles, as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made clear in his statement on4 December 2006, Official Report, columns 21-38.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the proportion of the defence budget which would be accounted for by Trident's successor in each year of its development and operation. (105129)

Our initial estimates of the costs involved in sustaining our independent nuclear deterrent capability were set out in the White Paper: ‘The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent’ (Cm 6994), published on 4 December.