Starmer Touts Nuclear Deterrent Amid Concerns Over US Backing

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.Photographer: Betty Laura Zapata/Bloomberg
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer will “lay the keel” for the first in the next generation of the UK’s nuclear-armed submarines, in a symbolic gesture as concerns grow about the nation’s reliance on the US to maintain its arsenal.

The premier will formally mark the beginning of the construction of a new Dreadnought-class submarine on Thursday after earlier this week secretly meeting submariners returning from a six-month nuclear deterrence patrol, his office said in an emailed statement.