Axing Trident ‘nothing to do with John Swinney’ but would make Scotland ‘vulnerable’ to Russia

^{This article was originally published in www.express.co.uk}

Exclusive: The First Minister suggested that the UK Government could fund more defence spending by not renewing the nuclear deterrent at Faslane despite the impending threat from Russia.
Sir Keir Starmer will hike up how much GDP is utilised for protecting the UK to 2.5% by 2027 which is largely being paid for by cuts to the international aid budget. This was blasted by SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn who called it a move out of the “populist playbook” but failed to say how else he would pay for it. Mr Swinney suggested that some of the money could be found by not replacing the Trident submarines which are based at Faslane, with this project costing £4bn. It is the SNP policy to dismantle nuclear weapons, and he rejected suggestions this stance was outdated due to the current threat from Russia.

He said: “I do think it’s necessary to take seriously the threat of security, which therefore leads to the conclusion that we need to spend more on defence. There are obviously choices to be made, the United Kingdom is spending billions of pounds every year servicing the Trident nuclear missile system. As a party, as a Government, as an individual, I wouldn’t support the possession of nuclear weapons.

“There’s obviously resources that could have been spent alternatively on defence than on Trident missiles – which are not stopping conflict in the world today and they’re not able to be deployed in the current challenges we face. There are other choices on defence expenditure to be made. Not renewing the Trident nuclear missile system would enable us to make a broader set of choices than if the UK commits to renewing the system.

“The situation we find ourselves in now is such that we need to think very carefully about what the threats are, and there’s obviously a strategic defence review underway just now to think about those threats and to consider what the most effective way of responding to them is. And I think the investment in conventional weaponry is what we need to do.”

His comments were criticised by Scots defence expert Lt Col Stuart Crawford who “urged caution” in getting rid of the nuclear deterrent. As a former SNP Defence Spokesman, he previously backed disarming them, but now believes it is not the time for this due to the impending threats across the world.

Speaking to the Scottish Daily Express he said: “My first thought is that it has absolutely nothing to do with John Swinney because defence is a retained Westminster competency but of course he is entitled to his opinion. It would be a bold, foolhardy move to call for it to be taken away, from a defence perspective.

“There was a point when I said that in terms of ridding the world of nuclear weapons, we’ve got to start somewhere and the UK could have started that trend when times were less risky. But now given the fact that Russia is rambunctious, and upped the ante, and we’ve got Trump in the White House for a second time, these are perhaps more dangerous times now. I’m still in favour of getting rid of nuclear weapons but I don’t know if now is the right time for that.

Lt Col Stuart Crawford is a defence analyst and former army officer. Sign up for his podcasts and newsletters at www.DefenceReview.uk

Lt Col Stuart Crawford’s latest book Tank Commander (Hardback) is available now

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