AN appeal has been made for those wishing to attend the All Under One Banner static rally against Trident at Faslane to book their bus transport, especially from Edinburgh and Glasgow, via the Now Scotland website.

The rally will assemble at 1pm on Saturday, August 28, at the Main Gate at Faslane. It is not an easy place to get to – the nearest mainline railway station is in Helensburgh.

AUOB said: “Earlier this evening we carried out a site visit for #AUOBFaslane. We scoped out the site and now know exactly where we will set up the rally and how the event will go. We had a good chat with local police who were very helpful. Soon we’ll publish this information. Lets do this.”

A final line up of speakers and participating organisations will be made public soon, but the support of Scottish CND and SNP CND for the rally should ensure a decent turnout.

AUOB said: “The rally will be addressed by a number of speakers from across the movement including independence campaigners, anti-war activists, representatives from trade unions, environmental campaigners and anti-racist activists.

“Former Rear Admiral, John Gower has speculated that if Scotland becomes independent then Trident would have to be based in France or the US. This is because there are allegedly no alternative places in the rest of the UK to site the nuclear submarines and warheads.

“Nuclear weapons are massively destructive and indiscriminate. They put us all at risk. The fact that they are based in Scotland, without the agreement of the Scottish Government and without the support of the Scottish people exemplifies the need for Scottish independence.

“An encouraging development has been the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This is a treaty which prohibits the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons as well as providing assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities.

“It came into effect January 2021 with the support of 122 countries across the world. The treaty has not been signed by any country that itself has nuclear weapons or any state which is a member of Nato.

“This raises a problem for the Scottish Government. When Scotland becomes an independent country the Government has indicated that Scotland would sign up to TPNW. However it’s also SNP policy that Scotland remains part of Nato. We cannot have it both ways. Either Scotland removes nuclear weapons or remains part of a nuclear alliance.

“This reinforces the need for all of us committed to independence and a nuclear free Scotland to continue to campaign and take to the streets.”