SNP to call for removal of Trident base

Published on Saturday 21 May 2011 19:21

THE Scottish Parliament is to call, for the first time, for the Trident nuclear submarine weapons system to be removed from Scotland.

The devolved parliament is to back a formal resolution on the matter soon, with this month's Scottish elections having returned a majority of parliamentarians who are now opposed to the base at Faslane.

The move comes after Defence Secretary Liam Fox last week began the process for a new generation of submarine-based nuclear warheads to replace Trident with the Clyde Naval base at Faslane seen as the only realistic place to house them in the UK.

The Scottish Parliament has no say over Trident being based in Scotland, as defence is a matter wholly reserved to the Westminster parliament.

However, the SNP will be able to use a resolution to argue that any decision to maintain the nuclear weapons at Faslane goes against the devolved parliament's will, prompting further cross-border tensions. It comes with Alex Salmond set to make a major speech on the constitution tomorrow, setting out his plans for Scottish independence.

The resolution would tie the party down to an unconditional demand for Trident to be removed from Faslane. It comes after former SNP leader Jim Sillars suggested the party should change its stance, leasing the Trident base to the UK post-independence as part of negotiations over secession.

Anti-nuclear campaigners are piling pressure on the SNP to reject such a move, saying the governing party must put forward a "non-negotiable" stance that Trident must go. They also now want the SNP Government to do more, by preventing nuclear warheads being transported on Scottish soil.

Analysts have previously warned that such an unconditional demand by Scottish ministers to get rid of Trident could threaten an independent Scotland's membership of the EU, if other nations saw it as a threat to international nuclear alliances and the security of the continent.

Nonetheless, a spokesman for the party confirmed last night that the SNP group would be pressing ahead with a formal motion at Holyrood. It is likely to be stronger than that passed by MSPs in 2007, which simply expressed opposition to a new generation of nuclear weapons.

The spokesman said the new motion would also explicitly call for Trident to be scrapped, adding: "Nearly 60 per cent of MSPs oppose Trident - reflecting the views of the people of Scotland as a whole - and it is appropriate that this is expressed by resolution of the Scottish Parliament."

Fox said last week the only option for a nuclear deterrent was a new series of ballistic missiles on Trident-class submarines which, he said, would act as "the ultimate guarantee of our national security".

Faslane would be the base for such submarines because most experts believe it would be too expensive and logistically impossible to contemplate a move from Faslane and nearby Coulport, where the warheads are stored.

And while Holyrood's vote will not carry legal force, analysts said last night they expected a Scottish challenge to be added to arguments within the MoD among generals who are privately opposed to Trident's replacement.

Scottish-based campaigners also say the SNP Government should press home its mandatefrom the Scottish Parliament, once the motion is passed, to make it impossible for warheads to be transported around the country.

Brian Larkin, of Trident Ploughshares, said yesterday: "The UK Government currently transports nuclear warheads over Scotland's roads to Faslane and Coulport. The Scottish Government could refuse to allow that."

But academics have warned that such a non-negotiable stance will massively complicate any attempt by Scotland to secede from the UK.

A study by Professor William Walker, professor of International Relations at St Andrew's University concluded that, in such negotiations, other EU nations would want to be assured there was an agreement on military relations within the UK. He warned that would be "difficult if Edinburgh was intent on expelling Trident against the will of London".

n INSIGHT: PAGE 12

n DUNCAN HAMILTON: PAGE 17