nuclear-news

Independent Scotland would ban nuclear weapons but join Nato Telegraph 7 Oct 12 Alex Salmond has promised SNP members a separate Scotland will have a written constitution banning nuclear weapons if they reverse their decades-long opposition to Nato.By Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor  07 Oct 2012161  The First Minister said the document would include a clause declaring weapons of mass destruction illegal, meaning the UK’s Trident submarine fleet would have to be moved from its base on the Clyde.

He made the pledge to placate his party members ahead of their conference later this month, at which they will vote to reverse SNP policy on an independent Scotland being part of Nato. The Nationalists have opposed membership for years because the
alliance is based on nuclear weapons, but this stance has severely undermined the credibility of their defence policy in the debate over separation.
Mr Salmond and Angus Robertson, his defence spokesman, are aiming to convince the SNP rank-and-file they can safely back Nato without compromising their anti-nuclear credentials or their determination to remove Trident…

… Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Greens’ co-leader, said: “The idea that we sign up to a nuclear alliance, the implication of which is to ask other countries to deploy nuclear weapons on our behalf, and then have a debate about whether they should be moved from the Clyde is a nonsense.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/SNP/9592522/Independent-Scotland-would-ban-nuclear-weapons-but-join-Nato.html

October 8, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, weapons and war