IMAGINE the second independence referendum is won by Yes and the SNP forms the first government of the newly independent nation. Imagine it then carries out one of its most popular policies and expels nuclear weapons from the Clyde. Now imagine Scotland after Trident – how good, or bad, could that be?

Independence activists and anti-nuclear campaigners can make common cause as the Scotland After Trident conference is held this Sunday, November 4, at the Albert Halls in Stirling.

Hosted by the SNP Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (SNPCND), the conference will examine and debate the issues raised, and the suggestions made, in the Common Weal white paper, A Defence and Security Strategy for an Independent Scotland.

Chaired by Isobel Lindsay and Jean Anderson, the conference speakers will include Garry MacDonald, independent policy consultant with experience advising political groups on defence and security issues, who wrote the white paper.

He will speak on Scottish Defence: Building a Stronger Case, examining how, when the next independence referendum comes, the Yes movement needs to better articulate how Scotland will provide for its own defence. Robin McAlpine, Common Weal director, will address the issue of A Secure Scotland: it’s not about bombs.

His contention is that “in an era of big fears like global insecurity and the impact of climate change we live in a country with an undefended coastline and which wastes its investment on nuclear weapons rather than the wellbeing of its own people. Scotland can do much better than this, but we need to leave behind the British belief that the path to security can only be clear using bombs”.

Former army officer and commentator on Scottish military affairs, Stewart Crawford, author of A’ The Blue Bonnets: Defending an independent Scotland will speak on that very subject with reference to the post-Brexit era.

He will discuss how an independent Scotland’s defence force will have to cut its coat according to its cloth, specialising to contribute internationally and taking maximum advantage of military alliances to cover gaps in its capabilities.

Bill Ramsay convener of SNPCND, is a frequent contributor to Bella Caledonia and CommonSpace on defence issues and nuclear issues in particular. He will speak on whether Scotland will be a “geopolitical sleepy hollow or geopolitical hothouse” and address the matter of “some national security determinants of an independent Scotland and its place in the world”.

Also scheduled for the conference, which begins at 11am, is a keynote speech from SNP defence spokesperson, Douglas Chapman MP.