UK to expand nuclear stockpile in post-Brexit security review

Downing Street is to raise the number of Trident nuclear warheads the UK can stockpile by more than 40 per cent in its integrated review of defence, security and foreign policy to be published on Tuesday.

Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, is set to announce that the cap on the number of nuclear warheads will increase from its current level of 180 to 260, according to two people with knowledge of the document. The move — which signals a move away from Britain’s pursuit of non-proliferation in recent decades — is intended to cement the UK’s status as a nuclear power and firm US defence ally.

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