THE letter from Ian McHugh “Jobs would still exist even if trident was cancelled” (July 12) is fanciful and somewhat vague.

One week is enough time to discuss renewing the country's strategic defence. It’s needed, there’s no alternative and that’s that, this isn’t a speech fest as to who can whinge the loudest. Everybody knows how horrific nuclear weapons are; and weeks and months to pointlessly drone on about this is not needed.

But I would ask Mr McHugh this. In the Utopia he envisages of windmills and peasant labourers, what will happen when a nuclear armed nation such as North Korea, Iran, or Pakistan comes along and says, “hands up, this is a stickup, give us all your windmills, or your all dead?” As for United Nations peace keeping initiatives, would those be the same peace keeping initiatives employed in Rwanda and the Balkans which saw UN peace keepers stand aside and watch as tens of thousands of innocent civilians were butchered?

No matter how sincere those who want a nuclear free world are however hard they wish for it, nuclear weapons will never be de-invented. The plentiful supply in this world of ‘Mad Mullahs’, potty tyrants and ‘tin-pot’ little Hitlers have made sure of that. We need the means, firstly to deter them from their privateering ways and secondly; to destroy them if needs be.

Whilst 11,500 jobs is not much in the grand scheme of the ‘loony left's’ plan to de-industrialise the UK, this workforce represents the cream of the UK's technological prowess. De-skilling this valuable labour force, having them build windmills, assemble solar panels instead is madness and will undoubtedly have dire consequences for the economy and the country

A fortnight ago British voters made a brave decision to go it alone without the shackles of the EU’s undemocratic bureaucracies dragging us down. In this uncertain world we need more than ever a credible deterrence to defend our new won freedoms.

Stuart A Chapman

County Kerry,

Ireland