We’re ready if nuclear war erupts says Fallon

BRITAIN and the US are taking part in Cold War- style drills to improve their response to a nuclear weapons crisis, the Defence Secretary revealed yesterday.

Sir Michael Fallon said ministers want to ensure decision-making would be ‘rapid’, amid growing fears of war with a North Korea.

Submariners at Clyde naval base in Faslane, Scotland, the home of the Trident nuclear deterrent, yesterday said they were ‘ready’ for war.

A British destroyer and two Type 23 frigates joined ships from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the US in the month-long exercise off Scotland called Formidable Shield.

The ships are detecting, tracking and shooting down anti- ship and ballistic missile targets to improve how allies work together.

At the base in front of the nuclear submarine HMS Vengeance beside Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, Sir Michael said: ‘British ministers participate in [nuclear] exercises. We do it at Nato, we also do it domestically to ensure the political decision-making is as effective and as rapid ... as it needs to be.’

Asked if military chiefs were preparing for war, he said: ‘We have to exhaust every conceivable channel before we start considering any kind of military action.’

Sir Michael added: ‘ Today the nuclear dangers are intensifying from a reckless North Korea and increasingly assertive Russia. UK weapons remain the only credible way to deter the most extreme dangers, reminding any aggressor the benefits of an attack would be vastly outweighed by the consequences.’