Opposition seek explanation over Trident test 'fail'

Media captionThe prime minister declined four times to answer questions about when she had been aware of the "misfire"

Labour and the Scottish National Party are urging the government to give a full explanation to MPs on how a test firing of a Trident missile went wrong.

The unarmed missile reportedly veered off course a few weeks before MPs voted to renew the nuclear weapons system.

The Ministry of Defence says submarine HMS Vengeance and its crew were "successfully tested".
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said it was "extremely worrying" Parliament had not been told of June's incident.


Nia Griffith, Labour's shadow defence secretary, is calling for the prime minister to give "a full explanation" to MPs later.

Meanwhile, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, a long-standing opponent of Trident, whose submarines are based at Faslane, on the River Clyde, called the apparent misfire a "hugely serious issue".

'Absolute faith'

The SNP leader tweeted: "There should be full disclosure of what happened, who knew what/when, and why the House of Commons wasn't told."

BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale says the Royal Navy has carried out half a dozen such tests since 2000 and in the past has publicised successful launches, but this time did not.

HMS Vengeance, one of the UK's four Vanguard-class submarines, returned to sea for trials in December 2015 after a £350m refit, which included the installation of new missile launch equipment and upgraded computer systems.

According to the Sunday Times, the unarmed Trident II D5 missile was intended to be fired 5,600 miles (9,012 km) from the coast of Florida to a sea target off the west coast of Africa - but veered towards the US.

In July, days after Theresa May had become prime minister following David Cameron's resignation, MPs backed the £40bn renewal of Trident by 472 votes to 117. During the debate, Mrs May told MPs it would be "an act of gross irresponsibility" for the UK to abandon its nuclear weapons.

But all 52 SNP MPs voted against it, as did 47 Labour MPs, including party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Questioned by the BBC's Andrew Marr on Sunday, Prime Minister Theresa May refused four times to say whether she had known about the test firing ahead of the vote.

Mrs May said: "I have absolute faith in our Trident missiles. When I made that speech in the House of Commons, what we were talking about was whether or not we should renew our Trident."