Hundreds planned at nuclear-free pro-indy march at Faslane

Supporters will march from The Briars in Helensburgh to south gate of the Faslane Naval Base on Saturday July 30 from 12.30pm. Hundreds are expected in attendance, who will be marching for both independence and a nuclear free Scotland.

Organisers state the increased the risk of nuclear war as a result of the war on Ukraine has placed Scotland “in the firing line” as the UK's nuclear fleet is held at Faslane, 40 miles from Glasgow. 

“This is a democratic outrage, which does not have the support of the Scottish people”, they state. “These weapons of mass destruction play no useful role.

“They put all of us at risk. They exist only as a means of giving the UK a seat at the table beside other imperialist powers who seek to control and dominate the world, both politically and economically, by military power.”

Organisers state that a “central pillar” of the Scottish independence campaign must be the “immediate removal of nuclear weapons from our country once independence has been achieved”.

READ MORE: Undecided voters key in struggle to rid Scotland of Trident

Convener Bill Ramsay said: “That elements within the British establishment are punting the idea of renting Faslane from an independent Scotland as a nuclear base for decades to come suggests that some within that establishment are seeing the prospect of Scottish independence as inevitable.

“SNP policy on this issue is crystal clear. Last August, by a vote of over 400 to 14 the SNP committed itself to the safe removal of nuclear weapons from Scotland within three years of a sovereign Scottish government coming into existence.

“Moreover, the new UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons would give the new Scottish Government access to UN organisations like the International Atomic Energy Agency to facilitate the safe, orderly removal of these nuclear weapons.”

READ MORE: Would the EU block an independent Scotland's membership over Trident?

The debate over nuclear weapons in Scotland has picked up fervour once more, as the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia continues.

Some, such as Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, said to drop Trident now, when Russia was invading Ukraine and threatening to use nuclear weapons, would send the wrong message.

“Even if you are not a supporter of nuclear weapons this would seem to be the wrong time to say we are getting rid of them because you are now having them used in threatening behaviour against you,” he said.

However, the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament previously told The National that the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine only underlined the urgent need to eliminate nuclear weapons, stating that the Faslane/Coulport complex makes Scotland a “a prime target for nuclear attack” as tensions escalate.