WHAT’S THE STORY?

EARLIER this week the UK Government slipped out a story about Britain’s nuclear deterrent in the form of a ministerial statement that hardly anyone noticed.

It indicated that the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) headquartered on the former site of RAF Aldermaston is effectively going to be re-nationalised.

Stripped of civil-servant speak, the statement says that the UK Government is exercising its right to end early a 25-year contract with a consortium of companies that run AWE plc.

From next year AWE will become an arms-length operation wholly owned by the Ministry of Defence. That will include AWE’s presence at the Royal Naval Armaments depot at Coulport on Loch Long which services the Clyde Submarine Base at Faslane, home to Britain’s Trident submarines.

The statement indicates the change is on grounds of efficiency. It read: “The change in Model will remove the current commercial arrangements, enhancing the MoD’s agility in the future management of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, whilst also delivering on core MoD objectives and value for money to the taxpayer.

Forgive the cynical view but that all says “in other words, we’re back in complete charge and will spend what we like on the replacement for Trident with no need for reports to shareholders and that public sort of stuff”.

WHEN WAS AWE ORIGINALLY PRIVATISED?

THE Act to effectively privatise Aldermaston was passed under John Major’s Tory Government in 1991. The transfer of a previously MoD-run facility to the private sector caused some controversy at the time, but went ahead anyway.

In 1993 the MoD entered into a government-owned, contractor-operated arrangement with Hunting-BRAE, a consortium of Hunting Engineering Ltd, Brown and Root Ltd and AEA Technology plc. Hunting-BRAE operated the AWE on behalf of the Government for just a few years. It must have blotted its copybook because in 1999 the MoD put the contract out to competitive tender and a new 25-year contract was awarded to AWE ML which was a consortium of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, the American defence giants Lockheed Martin and Serco – that’s right, the same Serco who have won lucrative contracts in the current coronavirus Test and Trace fiasco in England.

Its current chief executive is Old Etonian Rupert Soames, brother of former Tory MP Nicholas and grandson of Winston Churchill. Serco’s record as the Tories’ favourite outsourcing go-to company has long been a target for Private Eye.

The changeover was described by the MoD thus: “On July 1, 2019 the MoD triggered the Successor Arrangements clause with AWE Management Ltd (AWE ML) to consider alternative viable management options ahead of the current contract expiration. Following an in-depth review, the MoD concluded that AWE plc will become an Arms-Length Body, wholly owned by the MoD.”

It came as something of a surprise to Serco, who only found out about the re-nationalisation on Friday night, with the ministerial statement issued first thing on Monday – do these people all work weekends?

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

GOOD question. Obviously somebody somewhere is not happy. Ending a 25-year contract four years early is not a usual tactic of HM Government – quite the opposite with contracts often renewed “on the nod”.

It could also be an advance move in a long-rumoured possible project for the MoD to take back more sites and facilities and run them as arms-length operations. Babcock and other private contractors at Faslane and elsewhere will have taken note of the move.

ARE ALDERMASTON AND SCOTLAND LINKED?

THE convoys that take nuclear weapons between Coulport/Faslane and Aldermaston have been a worry for anti-nuclear campaigners for decades. In an independent Scotland, the Westminster Government would be asked to remove Trident and its ilk, which has always begged the question – what is the MoD’s plan B for Trident or its replacement after independence? Answer: there isn’t one. Go on, ask them yourselves.