Sir Keir Starmer and John Healey board a Vanguard-class submarine as she returns from an at-sea patrol — Sir Keir Starmer and John Healey boarded a Vanguard-class submarine as she returns from patrol (Picture: MOD)

Navy

Healey warns the UK's nuclear deterrent is 'ultimate guarantor' during submarine visit

The Defence Secretary has warned Britain could do "untold damage" to a potential enemy with its nuclear deterrent.

John Healey was speaking to The Times newspaper after attending a keel-laying ceremony for HMS Dreadnought in Barrow-in-Furness, alongside Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

HMS Dreadnought is the first submarine being built to replace the Vanguard-class nuclear-armed submarines and is designed with considerable technological advances.

In The Times interview, Mr Healey described the UK's nuclear weapons as the "ultimate guarantor", in what appeared to be a warning to Russia.

"Our nuclear deterrent is there as a deterrent," said Mr Healey. "It is the ultimate guarantor to any would-be adversary.

"We have the power to do untold damage to them if they attack us.

"We should not fight shy of the fact we are a nuclear power, that we do have an independent nuclear deterrent."

A large crowd gathered to witness the keel laying ceremony of HMS Dreadnought — A large crowd gathered to witness the keel-laying ceremony of HMS Dreadnought (Picture: BAE Systems)

Thousands of people gathered to witness the formal keel laying, marking the start of work on the first of four highly sophisticated ballistic missile submarines.

Once built, the Dreadnought-class submarines will be the length of 14 buses, displace more than 17,000 tonnes and have a crew of around 130 sailors.

They are set to be the most advanced submarine of their kind, with around 30,000 people involved in the large-scale project.

Construction of all four submarines is expected to take around 20 years, with HMS Dreadnought finished first.

Sir Keir Starmer and John Healey met submarine crews on the visit to Barrow-on-Furness — Sir Keir Starmer and John Healey met submarine crews on the visit to Barrow-in-Furness (Picture: BAE Systems)

During the visit to Barrow-in-Furness, the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary also met with submarine crews and joined a Vanguard-class boat returning from patrol.

This comes as the government is discussing plans for a so-called coalition of the willing to potentially deploy a peace-keeping force to Ukraine, in the event of a successful peace deal.

So far, US efforts to secure a ceasefire have not been successful and tensions between Russia and Nato remain high.

The Prime Minister warned of "severe consequences" should Russia breach any peace agreement.