Theresa May refuses to deny she knew about failed Trident nuclear missile test when she urged MPs to renew the £40bn system
PM repeatedly failed to answer direct questions on The Andrew Marr Show on her knowledge of the unreported submarine-launched misfire
THERESA May has refused to deny she knew about a failed test of the Trident nuclear missile system when she addressed MPs in the House of Commons before a vote on renewing it.
The Prime Minister repeatedly failed to answer direct questions on her knowledge of the submarine-launched misfire, which reportedly took place weeks before Parliament approved the £40billion programme in July.
Reports in The Sunday Times claimed the launch of an unarmed Trident II D5 missile from a British submarine off the coast of Florida in June malfunctioned.
Mrs May did not mention this test in her speech, in which she urged MPs to back renewal, leading to allegations the malfunction has been covered up.
When asked about her knowledge of the test on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show, Mrs May said: "I have absolute faith in our Trident missiles.
"When I made that speech in the House of Commons, what we were talking about was whether or not we should renew our Trident, whether or not we should have Trident missiles, an independent nuclear deterrent in the future.
"I think we should defend our country, I think we should play our role in Nato with an independent nuclear deterrent.
"Jeremy Corbyn thinks differently, Jeremy Corbyn thinks we shouldn't defend our country."
Asked again, Mrs May replied: "The issue we were talking about in the House of Commons was a very serious issue.
"It was about whether or not we should renew Trident, whether we should look to the future and have a replacement Trident.
"That's what we were talking about in the House of Commons, that's what the House of Commons voted for."
When host Andrew Marr asked about her knowledge of the test for a final time, Mrs May said: "There were tests that take place all the time for our, regularly, for our nuclear deterrents.
"What we were talking about in that debate that took place was about the future."
The newspaper said the cause of the failure remained top secret but questions could be asked over the Government's failure to publicise the failed test
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the test “a pretty catastrophic error”.
Ex-Royal Navy Admiral Lord West accused the Government of acting “like the Soviet Union, North Korea or China, where they won’t admit to things going wrong”.
A Government spokesman said: "The capability and effectiveness of the Trident missile, should we ever need to employ it, is unquestionable.”
They added: “We have absolute confidence in our independent nuclear deterrent. "