MOOTED plans to nationalise parts of the Trident supply chain show that the government has a “strange set of priorities,” the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) said yesterday.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) could take over Sheffield Forgemasters, one of Britain’s oldest steel-making companies, The Times has reported. 

The CND said it is “widely thought” that the firm produces many steel components for the nuclear-armed submarine fleet. 

According to reports, a complete takeover is one of many options “being examined.”

CND general secretary Kate Hudson said that the reports come after the government last month “effectively renationalised” the Atomic Weapons Establishment, which runs the nuclear warhead factory at Aldermaston.

She said: “At a time when the government is pursuing a policy of aggressive outsourcing within the NHS and in response to coronavirus, these moves to nationalise production for nuclear weapons reflect a strange set of priorities.”

She added that the government should scrap Trident and “instead invest properly in the NHS and in tackling climate change.”

David Bond, chief executive of Sheffield Forgemasters, confirmed in a statement that the firm works “within the submarine programme” but that it will not comment on its “defence work.”