QUESTIONS FOR LIBDEMS ON TRIDENT PLEDGE

For immediate use: Monday 20 September 2010


Attn: NEWSDESKS
DEFENCE CORRESPONDENTS


Claims at the Lib Dem conference that the decision on Trident will not be taken this Parliament are being questioned after Defence Minister Liam Fox was reported as saying he would only delay the decision by four to six months.


The SNP had welcomed Lib Dem claims by Tavish Scott, Lynne Featherstone and now Paddy Ashdown that they had influenced the decision and that replacement would be delayed as one step towards abolition. However the comments attributed to Liam Fox throw doubt on these assertions.


The SNP also responded to a Whitehall defence spokesman’s comments on storing nuclear weapons on land that “we haven’t found an MP who would be happy to have nuclear missiles based in their constituency” as betraying the arrogant and dismissive approach of the UK Government to the presence of nuclear weapons on the Clyde.


Interviewed on the Politics Show Scotland yesterday the Scottish LibDem leader Tavish Scott claimed that Nick Harvey, the LibDem Defence minister had said a decision is not going to be taken on a Trident replacement this Parliament.


Commenting on the clear contradiction between both claims SNP MSP Bill Kidd – a member of the Council of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament - said:


“These two positions cannot both be true. This is too important an issue to be left to partisan spin and behind the scenes briefing.


“What is needed now is clarity on this issue. Who is telling the truth? The Lib Dems or Liam Fox?


“And if the UK Government cannot find an MP who would want nuclear weapons in their constituency perhaps they can finally understand one of the reasons why Scots do not want them on the Clyde.


“The SNP has a clear position on this issue. We believe Trident and its replacement are not only morally wrong but in the current financial crisis have been shown to be economic madness.


“People in Scotland believe billions in public money should be spent on avoiding cuts in public services that will affect them and their families - not wasted on weapons of mass destruction like Trident, such as the Tories and LibDems – and even Labour - want?”


ENDS


Notes for Editors


1. BBC Scotland Politics Show, 19th September


“Nick Harvey, our defence minister, has already made it clear this election or, sorry, this parliament is not going to see that decision because in his defence judgement it’s not a decision that has to be take.


“So I think that's a very important step forward that the Liberal Democrats have already made in government in the United Kingdom.”


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ttxjg/The_Politics_Show_Scotland_19_09_2010/


2. However the following is reported in today’s Guardian:


“…Liam Fox, the defence secretary, is refusing to accept anything other than a minor delay in replacing Trident, government sources told the Guardian.


“In a move that threatens a row with Clegg and the Treasury, Fox is telling cabinet colleagues that replacing the four Vanguard nuclear submarines can only be delayed by four to six months.”


Discussing alternatives to Trident a Whitehall source said:


"We haven't yet found an MP who would be happy to have nuclear missiles based in their constituency,".