Angus Robertson 'overstepping remit on nuclear weapons'

Bill Ramsay, a member of the SNP’s National Executive Committee, highlighted how Robertson had been elected as an MSP after signing a pledge to push for the adoption of the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

But speaking to the media on Monday, the External Affairs Secretary only said that an independent Scotland would maintain its obligations under the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Robertson said that the issue of whether or not to sign the TPNW – which had been vocally supported by the Scottish government under Nicola Sturgeon – would be a question for “the government of the day”.

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The TPNW calls for an outright ban on nuclear weapons, while the older NPT only looks to prevent new countries from acquiring them.

Speaking to The National, Ramsay, who also serves as the chair of the SNP Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (SNP CND), said Robertson did not have the power to change policy in reserved areas, as he appeared to have done.

He said: “The External Affairs Secretary is entitled to make policy within a devolved context in relation to external affairs. He has no locus, as a devolved minister, to develop SNP policy on nuclear weapons, which are, of course, a reserved matter.

“The only way that he can change the SNP policy on the TPNW is to bring a motion to SNP conference, present it, and have it successfully passed.

“Bear in mind that before the last Scottish parliamentary election, all SNP parliamentary candidates for Holyrood signed the [International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons] parliamentary pledge on the TPNW.

“The mandate that he stood on included the ICAN pledge. It would appear that he's moving away from that unilaterally.”

Ramsay (below) went on: “Now, he may be a government minister, but he has no locus on the development of SNP policy on nuclear weapons.

“Indeed, by unilaterally making this decision to move away from the TPNW, he's one: moving away from SNP policy, and two: overstepping his remit under devolved powers.

“He has no power, and politically no structure, for him to unilaterally develop SNP policy on nuclear weapons. The only body that can do that is the Scottish National Party.”

The Scottish Government has said it is committed to joining the Nato military alliance after independence, and insisted that removing nuclear weapons from the country would not be a barrier to doing so.

However, the TPNW may present a barrier. No Nato state has signed it and commentators are split on whether doing so would prevent membership.

In 2017, the UK, US, and France – the three Nato members with nuclear capabilities – issued a joint statement rejecting the TPNW, saying it “clearly disregards the realities of the international security environment”.

At the same time, the three nations also made clear a “continued commitment” to the NPT.

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Marjorie Ellis Thompson, a former chair of the UK CND who now sits on Alba’s National Executive Committee, also hit out at the “SNP’s nuke ban U-turn”.

Alba Party policy states that an independent Scotland should become a signatory of the TPNW.

Ellis Thompson said: “It is a shocking revelation that the SNP have decided they will not support a nuke ban in an independent Scotland. The Scottish independence movement has long been associated with the campaign for nuclear disarmament and this U-turn is nothing but a betrayal of decades of support by this group.”

The Scottish Government white paper makes clear that Scotland itself would be free from nuclear weapons in the event of independence.

Robertson told press that the question of where to store the arms currently held at Faslane and Coulport, on the Clyde, would be for the UK Government, who would be compelled to remove them from Scottish waters.