Theresa May to Back Renewing Trident, Warn About Growing Nuclear Threat

UK Prime Minister Theresa May is expected on Monday to express her support for the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent program, while warning about the growing nuclear threat to the country and the world in general, local media reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Later in the day, the UK government is expected to force a vote on the Trident program. Members of Parliament will be asked to approve the construction of four new Trident nuclear missile submarines.

May is expected to say that the threat from both rogue states and terrorist groups justifies the country's nuclear program, The Telegraph reported on Sunday.

The newspaper added that she was expected to say that abandoning Trident would be a "reckless gamble."

The Trident system is deployed at the UK Royal Navy’s Faslane submarine base in Scotland. The UK Conservative Party has been campaigning to renew the nuclear deterrent despite  rising maintenance costs.

The total estimated cost of renewing Trident is 167 billion pounds ($244 billion) over the 32-year lifespan of the system, between 2028 and 2060, according to the International Monetary Fund.