In July 2010, whilst seeking cuts of up to 25 per cent in government spending to tackle the deficit, Osborne insisted the £20 billion cost of building four new s to bear Trident missiles had to be considered as part of the Ministry of Defence's core funding, even if that implied a severe reduction in the rest of the Ministry's budget. Liam Fox, the Secretary of State for Defence, warned that if Trident were to be considered core funding, there would have to be severe restrictions in the way that the UK operated militarily.