Britain’s prime minister
refused to say Sunday if she knew about an unarmed Trident missile that reportedly failed when it was test-fired off the coast of Florida last year.
LONDON — The British government is being accused of concealing the failure last year of an unarmed ballistic missile launch ahead of a debate in Parliament over whether to refurbish the country’s aging Trident nuclear launching system.
Britain’s prime minister refused to say Sunday whether she knew about an unarmed Trident missile that reportedly failed when it was test-fired off the coast of Florida last year.
Theresa May told the BBC she has total confidence in Britain’s Trident nuclear launching system, but didn’t confirm or deny a newspaper report about the alleged failure of a ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads.
The prime minister was asked about the missile test after the Sunday Times reported that an unarmed missile launched from a submarine off Florida’s coast in June veered off course and may have headed toward the U.S.
The newspaper said top government officials decided to keep the failure of a Trident II D5 ballistic missile out of the public eye because of an upcoming debate the next month in Parliament over whether to spend about $50 billion to refurbish the aging Trident, the cornerstone of Britain’s nuclear deterrent system.
“I have absolute faith in our Trident missiles,” May said Sunday when asked if she had known about a possible missile failure when she spoke to Parliament in July. “When I made that speech in the House of Commons, what we were talking about was whether or not we should renew our Trident, whether or not we should have Trident missiles.”
The government triumphed in that debate, winning support for the Trident overhaul in July, but some opposition figures in the British government now seek an inquiry into the reported missile failure and a possible cover-up.
Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon, who opposes having the Trident submarine fleet based in Scotland, said reports of a failure and coverup are a “hugely serious issue.”
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, also a Trident opponent, called it “a pretty catastrophic error.”