We may not have cash for Trident, says Cameron

David Cameron put a question mark over the future of the Trident nuclear deterrent today.

The Tory leader said he could not guarantee that a future Conservative government would have enough money because of the recession.

At a press conference he also refused to guarantee another major strategic defence project - the commissioning of two Royal Navy aircraft carriers.

He backed them in principle but said: "That doesn't mean in these difficult circumstances that you don't have to look - just as you are looking across government - at all of these things."

His remarks came after former shadow home secretary David Davis called for Tory "sacred cows" including Trident to be reviewed.

"There is no firmer advocate of nuclear deterrent than me, but even I have some difficulty seeing the justification for a wholesale upgrade of Trident," Mr Davis wrote in the Financial Times.

The apparent Tory shift - warning voters of spending cuts needed to rescue public finances - caused consternation in the defence industry. Ian Godden, chief executive of the Society of British Aerospace Companies, said: "Security threats do not go away just because the country is in recession."

He warned that suppliers who employ 300,000 people in Britain could not make investment decisions with such uncertainty. "It is time for the Conservatives to make their intentions clear," he said.

A spokesman for Mr Cameron said he backed a nuclear deterrent in principle but had to consider what form would deliver the best value for money.

In other remarks, the Tory leader said he would examine whether benefits should be paid to people earning £50,000. He also dismissed forging closer links to Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg.