This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/10/scottish-independence-nuclear
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Scottish independence: the nuclear options | Scottish independence: the nuclear options |
| (2 months later) | |
| Of all the difficult questions that would arise if Scotland voted yes in the referendum in September 2014, the future of Britain's nuclear deterrent is among the toughest. Hard for both sides, but harder for Westminster's politicians. A nuclear-free Scotland is one of the SNP's most popular policies. In the past, most Scottish Labour MPs and the Scottish TUC have supported it too. But for the rest of the UK, the cost of relocating the Trident fleet of Vanguard submarines and finding an alternative base to Faslane is a very pricey headache. The news that active consideration is now being given in Whitehall to negotiating a future for the base as sovereign territory, with a status similar to the two Cyprus bases, may be dismissed by nationalists as absurdist scaremongering. But do the thought experiment anyway. Not quite as easy after all. | Of all the difficult questions that would arise if Scotland voted yes in the referendum in September 2014, the future of Britain's nuclear deterrent is among the toughest. Hard for both sides, but harder for Westminster's politicians. A nuclear-free Scotland is one of the SNP's most popular policies. In the past, most Scottish Labour MPs and the Scottish TUC have supported it too. But for the rest of the UK, the cost of relocating the Trident fleet of Vanguard submarines and finding an alternative base to Faslane is a very pricey headache. The news that active consideration is now being given in Whitehall to negotiating a future for the base as sovereign territory, with a status similar to the two Cyprus bases, may be dismissed by nationalists as absurdist scaremongering. But do the thought experiment anyway. Not quite as easy after all. |
| First, if (and it remains a big if) there is a yes vote in next year's referendum, then the SNP's long-held anti-nuclear policy will have a undisputed democratic mandate. Nicola Sturgeon, the party's deputy first minister, said earlier this week that although there was no question of demanding the removal of all the submarines and the nuclear support facilities immediately, they would go within years. But the question of where they would go to is the first of two big problems. The deep water of Faslane and neighbouring Coulport, and their relatively remote location make them easily the best UK solution. None of the main alternatives, Devonport, Barrow-in-Furness or Milford Haven meet all the criteria. It could be done, given the time and the money, the defence secretary Philip Hammond told MPs on Tuesday – at least 10 years and probably tens of billions of pounds. No wonder ministers have been hinting that, if there ever were to be post-referendum negotiations, they would play hardball elsewhere if the SNP stuck to its total non-nuclear policy. | First, if (and it remains a big if) there is a yes vote in next year's referendum, then the SNP's long-held anti-nuclear policy will have a undisputed democratic mandate. Nicola Sturgeon, the party's deputy first minister, said earlier this week that although there was no question of demanding the removal of all the submarines and the nuclear support facilities immediately, they would go within years. But the question of where they would go to is the first of two big problems. The deep water of Faslane and neighbouring Coulport, and their relatively remote location make them easily the best UK solution. None of the main alternatives, Devonport, Barrow-in-Furness or Milford Haven meet all the criteria. It could be done, given the time and the money, the defence secretary Philip Hammond told MPs on Tuesday – at least 10 years and probably tens of billions of pounds. No wonder ministers have been hinting that, if there ever were to be post-referendum negotiations, they would play hardball elsewhere if the SNP stuck to its total non-nuclear policy. |
| But the SNP has some hard questions to answer too. What future for the 6,000 jobs that depend directly on Scottish nuclear bases, and the thousands of others that rely upon them? The SNP claims they would be replaced by converting the bases to conventional defence. Workers at the base are unconvinced. Then there would be heavy decommissioning costs to factor in, and the shape of a new Scottish defence force whose naval arm (another huge expense for the independent country currently predicting a total defence budget of £2.5bn) would be based a long way from many of its principal industrial assets. | But the SNP has some hard questions to answer too. What future for the 6,000 jobs that depend directly on Scottish nuclear bases, and the thousands of others that rely upon them? The SNP claims they would be replaced by converting the bases to conventional defence. Workers at the base are unconvinced. Then there would be heavy decommissioning costs to factor in, and the shape of a new Scottish defence force whose naval arm (another huge expense for the independent country currently predicting a total defence budget of £2.5bn) would be based a long way from many of its principal industrial assets. |
| Of course it remains, according to the polls, only a distant possibility. Yet, faced with such a stand-off, the idea of a patch of sovereign territory just to the north-west of Glasgow over which a diminished union flag still flutters is just a bit less bonkers than it first sounds. | Of course it remains, according to the polls, only a distant possibility. Yet, faced with such a stand-off, the idea of a patch of sovereign territory just to the north-west of Glasgow over which a diminished union flag still flutters is just a bit less bonkers than it first sounds. |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |