Plans to replace Trident at Faslane are dealt triple blow

Jul 10 2009 by Tina Kemp, Lennox Herald (main ed)

PLANS to replace the Trident weapons system at Faslane have been dealt a triple blow.

The first setback came with news that the Ministry of Defence may have to scale down its spending on replacing the nuclear deterrent.

Cutbacks could force the £20 billion replacement of the arsenal to be severely reduced and could even see existing warheads made to last longer.

The news came as the leader of Scotland’s Catholics, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, branded Trident – due to be replaced within the next 15 years – as “morally reprehensible”.

And Westminster’s woes continued as First Minister Alex Salmond brazenly defied a demand to the Scottish Government not to oppose the renewal programme.

The MoD played down the cost-cutting revelations, which has put the programme to replace four nuclear submarines under review to save cash.

A less expensive option, including arming aircraft with nuclear bombs, might be considered, together with extending the lifespan of the current missiles to 2060.

In an article in The Times last week, Cardinal O’Brien called for the rejection of Trident “right now”.

He said: “In any and all circumstances the use of a nuclear weapon would be immoral. Since, to use these weapons would be immoral, to threaten their use is immoral and to hold them with a view to threatening their use is also immoral.”

He added: “We not only violate moral principles with our nuclear weapons but undermine our moral authority in the world.

“Rejecting Trident, not in 2024 but right now, will bring economic dividends at home and give moral leadership abroad. It would allow us, at last, to stand on the moral high ground and to invite the nuclear armed nations of the world to join us there.”

And Mr Salmond was equally blunt in a response to Conservative leader David Cameron, who warned the SNP not to block a replacement for Trident if the Tories win the next general election.

Mr Cameron said the SNP should keep out of Westminster’s affairs, including deploying a new generation of nuclear submarines in the Clyde.

But Mr Salmond, who has already set up an anti-Trident working group, stressed he would continue to campaign against replacing Trident.

He said: “If that missile system is unwanted by the body politic of Scotland, unwanted by Scottish members of parliament at Westminster, not wanted by the Scottish Parliament, then surely that prime minister would expect the Scottish Parliament to make its view known in every area and way that was open to it to do.”