Independent Scotland would sign nuclear weapon ban treaty, say Greens on 77th Anniversary of Hiroshima

An independent Scotland would sign the nuclear weapon ban treaty, the Scottish Greens have claimed.

Saturday marks 77 years since the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing more than 100,000 people.

Three days later, the people of Nagasaki suffered a similar fate with another 50,000 dead.

Now, on the anniversary of the attack, the Scottish Greens have said that an independent Scotland would “finally remove nuclear weapons”, adding that the country should “immediately sign and ratify” the Treaty on the Prohibition Of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

The TPNW has been signed by 66 nations, including Ireland, since it was passed by the United Nations in 2017.

Scottish Greens external affairs spokesperson, Ross Greer MSP, said: “The horrors inflicted on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were utterly unnecessary to winning the war and must never be repeated.

“It should have been the moment when political leaders said never again to the use of such evil weapons. But there are far more nuclear warheads in the world today than there were in 1945, and they are far, far more devastating in their destructive power.

“For as long as nuclear weapons exist, we are only one error of judgement or irrational act away from a potentially world-ending disaster.”

“With both the Tories and Labour committed to spending hundreds of billions of pounds on even more nuclear weapons for the UK, it is clear that the only way we can remove these deadly weapons from our shores is with independence.”

“Next year’s referendum will give us the chance to rid ourselves of Britain’s arsenal of mass slaughter. I’m proud that the agreement between the Scottish Government and Scottish Greens confirmed our support for the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty, which would bring us in line with our nearest neighbours in Ireland.”

“Rather than stockpiling evermore deadly weapons of mass obliteration, the best thing that this generation of political leaders can do for peace is to ensure that we finally eliminate nuclear weapons for good.”