from Sunday Herald, 24 November 2013
The Westminster government has rejected a plea by MPs to draw up contingency plans for the future of the Trident nuclear weapons system should Scotland vote for independence next year.
The House of Commons defence committee warned in September that the possibility of Scottish independence “represents a serious threat to the future operational viability of the UK’s nuclear deterrent."
This is because the SNP government has said that it will outlaw nuclear weapons, and rid Scotland of them as soon as it can after independence. The UK’s nuclear warheads are stored at Coulport on the Clyde and carried by submarines based at nearby Faslane.
“The UK government must now give urgent consideration to contingency options in the event of a Yes vote,” the defence committee’s report concluded. The committee is composed of a dozen cross-party MPs, not including the SNP.
But the UK government has now firmly rejected that recommendation. “We note the committee's recommendations regarding contingency planning,” said the formal response from ministers made available last week.
“However, the UK government's position remains that it is not planning for Scottish independence and cannot pre-negotiate the details of independence ahead of the referendum.”
During its investigation the defence committee heard evidence on the topic from Rear Admiral Martin Alabaster. He rose up through the navy to become head of operations in Scotland at Faslane from 2008 to 2011, when he retired.
Alabaster was asked what impact he thought Scottish independence would have on the UK nuclear weapons programme. He didn’t disguise his view that it would be serious.
He said: “It would be very difficult – in fact, I would almost use the word inconceivable – to recreate the facilities necessary to mount the strategic deterrent, without the use of Faslane and Coulport, somewhere else in the UK.”
Some experts have previously suggested that it might be possible to move the Trident nuclear weapons systems to the Devonport naval base in Plymouth. But others have argued that this isn’t feasible.
“Scottish independence would be an opportunity for the UK to scrap Trident because, as the former Faslane commander has admitted, it is almost inconceivable that the base could be rebuilt in England or Wales,” said John Ainslie, the coordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
“Yet the UK government is refusing to engage in any discussion of this issue. It is not willing to take seriously the possibility that Scots might vote for independence and for a nuclear-weapons free Scotland.”
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