Defence Secretary Philip Hammond’s announcement of £350 million towards a replacement for Trident was met with accusations by Nick Clegg that he was “jumping the gun”.
The UK Government’s coalition agreement makes clear that a decision on replacing Trident will not be made during the current UK Parliamentary term, but that has not prevented major public funds being committed to laying the groundwork for a new generation of weapons of mass destruction.
Following a summer of silence in which Johann Lamont’s refusal to go public with her views on Trident became increasingly bewildering, the leader of Labour in Scotland has been repeatedly challenged to reveal her views.
During her leadership campaign, Johann Lamont was the only candidate who refused to answer questions from the CND on her stance on nuclear weapons.
Commenting, SNP MSP Bill Kidd who is a Co-President of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) said:
“If the UK coalition is willing to go public with their internal splits on this issue, why can’t Johann Lamont just be upfront with people in Scotland?
“Does she support the basing of weapons of mass destruction on the Clyde and is she in favour of wasting billions of pounds on replacing Trident?
“It is a ludicrous situation when we have heard more about the future of nuclear weapons on the Clyde from the LibDems, the Tories and even the Labour party in Wales than we have from Johann Lamont.
“The fact is that Scotland simply does not want these horrific weapons to remain in our waters and only a Yes vote in 2014 will see them removed.”
Note: Details of Johann Lamont’s silence on her stance on nuclear weapons can be viewed at
http://banthebomb.org/ne/images/stories/pdfs/scotlabourtrident.pdf
