THE Scottish Government has renewed a call for the cancellation of Trident’s replacement – ahead of UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announcing a £2.5 billion investment in the UK’s nuclear submarines today.
During a visit to the BAE Systems shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, Williamson will reveal that a £1.5bn contract has been signed for a new Astute hunter killer submarine.
He will also announce contracts worth £960 million to boost the second phase of construction of the four Dreadnought nuclear submarines that will replace those currently operating out of Faslane on the Clyde.
The multibillion-pound announcements will help sustain approximately 8000 jobs in BAE Systems’s submarine business, the Ministry of Defence said.
The contract to build the seventh Astute submarine – named Agincourt – comes after the MoD and BAE Systems were put under pressure to scrap it to alleviate the defence equipment funding crisis.
The news that it is to go ahead has been condemned by the Scottish Government and SNP defence spokesman Stewart McDonald MP.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government firmly opposes the possession, threat and use of nuclear weapons and are committed to the safe and complete withdrawal of Trident from Scotland. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to cancel its plans for the renewal of Trident.”
McDonald said the UK Government should be investing in the conventional defence forces and protecting public services from austerity cuts rather than wasting hundreds of billions on nuclear weapons.
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