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SNP urges Westminster to dump nuclear weapons

Nationalists to host meeting of opponents to Trident renewal plan to counter NATO meeting in Edinburgh.

08 November 2009 00:30 AM

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SNP urges Westminster to dump nuclear weapons

The SNP have stepped up the pressure on Westminster to dump the UK's arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Backbench Nationalist MSP Bill Kidd set out plans to host a meeting of opponents in the Scottish Parliament this Friday.

He says it will act as a counter to the 55th annual NATO Parliamentary Assembly which gets under way in Edinburgh the same day.

Mr Kidd said: "It is my intention to reiterate the commitment of the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government and the Scottish National Party to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.

"Under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which the UK is a signatory, the UK is required to take steps towards achieving nuclear disarmament.

"Under the current Labour Government, we have seen nothing to suggest that this will happen."

Two years ago, the Scottish Parliament voted against Labour plans to renew the UK's submarine-based Trident nuclear deterrent, based at Faslane on the Clyde, at an estimated cost of £20billion.

The Scottish Government at Holyrood has openly called for the Trident renewal to be scrapped and the money saved to help lift the economy out of recession.

Alyn Ware, global co-ordinator of parliamentarians for Nuclear-Non Proliferation and Disarmament, will be among those at the event in Holyrood, along with Isobel Lindsay, convener of Scotland's For Peace, and John Ainslie, co-ordinator for the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
 

Last updated: 07 November 2009, 15:35

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  1. Default avatar

    1. 08 Nov 2009 12:33Steve M said

    Well done to the SNP for continuing to expose the incompetence and hypocrisy of the London Government particularly on the issue of nuclear disarmament.

    Brown postures on the world stage when countries like Iran and North Korea are mentioned in the context of nuclear proliferation but he fails to adequately ensure that the UK meets its international commitments on the same front.

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