ÌÇÐÄTV

PAIS Associate Professor , as Chair of BASIC (British American Security Information Council), hosted a reception on the bridge of the Tattershall Castle paddle steamer at Victoria Embankment in London on Monday to celebrate the release of the BASIC Trident Commission Concluding Report (). The Commission brought together a diverse group of opinion from across party lines and was co-chaired by former Labour Defence Secretary Des Browne, former Conservative Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, and former Liberal Democrat Leader and Shadow Foreign Minister Menzies Campbell, and included other former diplomats and members of the defence and foreign policy establishment. The Report concludes a three year investigation, facilitated by BASIC, into the arguments for and against the renewal of Trident, Britain's independent nuclear deterrence system.

Trevor emphasised in his speech at the reception that although BASIC does not agree with all of the Report's conclusions, he believes that the Commission has made an important contribution to the debate over the future of Britain's nuclear weapons, that it has opened an honest and frank dialogue that must now continue as we move toward the final decisions over renewal, and it raises a number of significant questions that are yet to be satisfactorily answered about what threats Trident is supposed to deter and how Britain can best contribute to the steps toward multilateral nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

BASIC has produced a Guide to Interpreting the Report that Trevor co-authored with Paul Ingram, BASIC Executive Director (​). They emphasise that the Commissioners have rejected a number of conventional arguments made for the retention of Britain's nuclear weapons such as their alleged role in ensuring Britain's status as a global power, their insurance against an uncertain future, and the economic arguments concerning jobs and the UK's industrial base. While the Commission concluded that the UK's independent nuclear deterrence should currently be retained for what they perceive as reasons of national security, they do also argue that Britain must play a central role in global efforts to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, and that further delay in the final decision for Trident renewal would have a "number of advantages" in terms of "cost, technology and diplomatic terms". There is much, therefore, in the conclusions of the BASIC Trident Commission to stimulate further debate over the future of Britain's nuclear weapons beyond the 2015 general election.

On Tuesday morning, ahead of the formal release of the BASIC Trident Commission Report in the Houses of Parliament, Trevor McCrisken commented on the report's findings on the Shane O'Connor Show on BBC Coventry and ÌÇÐÄTVshire Radio.