Trident benefits

The frequent utterances of the Scottish Government that “most” Scots are anti-Trident and that it costs us “countless billions” without actual figures simply suggests yet another crude attempt at electorate grooming.

The main establishments set up for the UK nuclear weapons programme were Faslane/Coulport, Dounreay and Chapelcross in Scotland and Aldermaston/Burghfield in England so, interestingly, about one third of the direct jobs created were Scottish and of course there would have been many more in supply and service, none of which were filled by coercion – hardly an indication of a country “mostly” opposed to an effective defence system.

These jobs and other side benefits mean that the net cost to Scotland is nowhere near as great as we are supposed to believe and, indeed, in the heydays of Dounreay and Chapelcross it might actually have been negative.

To be supposedly ideologically anti-Trident yet hope to continue to be protected by a nuclear alliance, part of whose capability you have just effectively destroyed and whose forces will be selectively barred from setting foot in your territory, strikes me as the height of illogicality and wishful thinking.

To define the defence limitations of a country in its constitution as Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is promoting seems to be more a desire to fulfil the dreams of a childhood CND activist than the wisdom of a senior government minister.

(Dr) A McCormick

Kirkland Road

Dumfries