BORIS Johnson is set to raise the cap on Britain's stockpile of Trident nuclear warheads, based at HMNB Clyde, ending three decades of gradual disarmament, it has been reported.
The Government's Integrated Review of security, defence, development and foreign policy will increase the limit from 180 to 260 warheads, according a leaked copy obtained by a daily newspaper.
The paper said that it paves the way for a £10 billion rearmament in response to perceived threats from Russia and China.
Elsewhere the review is said to warn there is a "realistic possibility" that a terrorist group will launch a successful chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) attack by 2030.
The Prime Minister will set out the findings of the year-long survey - billed as the most radical reassessment of Britain's place in the world since the end of the Cold War - in the Commons today (Tuesday).
It is expected to include the creation of a new state-of-the-art counter-terrorism operations centre to streamline the response of police and the intelligence agencies in the event of an attack.
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The will also be a new "situation centre" in the Cabinet Office similar to the White House situation room where Barack Obama was able to watch the US special forces operation to kill Osama bin Laden in real time.
The 100-page document - entitled Global Britain in a Competitive Age - argues the increase in nuclear warheads cap is "in recognition of the evolving security environment" and the "developing range of technological and doctrinal threats," the Guardian said.
"A minimum, credible, independent nuclear deterrent, assigned to the defence of Nato, remains essential in order to guarantee our security and that of our allies," the review says.
Elsewhere, it marks a strategic "tilt" towards the Indo-Pacific region, reflecting the view of ministers that it is increasingly becoming the "geopolitical centre of the world".
The shift will be underlined by the deployment of the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group to the region on its maiden operational mission later this year.
It is also said to include a personal commitment from the Prime Minister to to restore foreign aid spending to 0.7 per cent of national income "when the fiscal situation allows" following furious criticism of cuts to support for Yemen and other countries.
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In a Commons statement, Mr Johnson is expected to argue that while Nato remains the bedrock of UK security in the Euro-Atlantic region, the country can no longer rely on an "increasingly outdated international" to protect its interests.
At a time when some countries are seeking to undermine the open and liberal international order which emerged following the Cold War, he is expected to say the UK needs to use "all the tools at our disposal" to ensure a world where democracies can still flourish.
He is expected to tell MPs: "I am profoundly optimistic about the UK's place in the world and our ability to seize the opportunities ahead.
"The ingenuity of our citizens and the strength of our Union will combine with our international partnerships, modernised armed forces and a new green agenda, enabling us to look forward with confidence as we shape the world of the future."
The publication comes after the Prime Minister announced in November a £16.5 billion increase in defence spending over the next four years focusing on the future battlefields of space and cyber.
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Meanwhile, campaigners have reacted with distress and anger at the news that the UK has decided to increase the number of nuclear bombs it deploys and stockpiles by 40 per cent.
Scottish CND chair Lynn Jamieson said: “What neo-colonial delusions and swaggering machismo goes from building ‘a better Britain’ to investment in more nuclear weapons - good for agonising mass death and poisoning for all living things but nothing else.
"Forget the old think of ‘deterrence’ the majority world is moving on. Commitment to more nuclear weapons is dangerous nose-thumbing at the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which some state actors regard as potentially dovetailing with the UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
"Rather than negotiations towards cessation of the nuclear arms race as the NPT requests, our government is starting its own.
"The climate emergency, the pandemic and the Brexit catastrophe require a focus on real security achieved by reducing inequalities and working to heal environmental and social harms – nuclear weapons are the antithesis.”
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