Trident Costs Escalating - Before a Single Vote to Approve Renewal

The cost of Trident nuclear weapons on the River Clyde is escalating– before a single vote has been taken in the House of Commons to enable it, as figures from the House of Commons Library suggest that nearly £5 billion has already been spent on what the Ministry of Defence (MoD) describe as the ‘concept phase’ and the ‘assessment phase‘.

The SNP has revealed that the total estimated costs are now running at a massive £4.8 billion.

The concept phase had an allocated spend of £905 million and the assessment phase initially had an allocated spend of £3.3 billion. However, the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) confirmed that a further £600 million would be spent during the design phase of the programme prior to taking the programme forward in 2016, amounting to £3.9 billion in those initial phases. As the programme moves into the next phase the MOD will have spent an estimated £4.8 billion on the Trident replacement programme.

Brendan O’Hara MP, SNP Defence spokesperson commented:

“People will be rightly shocked that before the government has even bothered to put this to a vote in the House of Commons – they are just pushing ahead, spending billions and billions of taxpayers' money on preparing for these obscene and redundant weapons.

“A billion here - a billion there - all based on the arrogant assumption that parliament will do what the Tories want and at a time when austerity cuts are deep and unending. We know that Labour have bottled it on Trident – with Labour and its Scottish branch office at loggerheads, so once again the SNP are the only effective opposition at Westminster.

“This cost would be indefensible under any circumstances – but at a time of deep austerity and swingeing cuts – it is completely unacceptable. Trident is the UK’s ultimate virility symbol – it allows David Cameron to wield what remains of imaginary influence – proving beyond any doubt it is not a military asset – it is a political one.

“In his memoirs, former Prime Minister, Tony Blair – by no stretch of the imagination a unilateralist – wrote of Trident: 'The expense is huge and the utility, non-existent in terms of military use.' But he decided against cancelling Trident because in his words, it would be 'too big a downgrading of our status as a nation.'

“Trident is an immoral obscene and redundant weapons system – the deadliest nuclear arsenal in history. It is also one that is already costing us a fortune – and that is before a decision has been made. The SNP will vote against Trident at every opportunity – whenever the Tories get round to it.”

Tory Defence Cuts Continue in Scotland

TREASURY OBSESSION WITH NUCLEAR ARSENAL – LEADING TO REAL CAPABILITY GAP
The SNP are today [Saturday] commenting on reports that the number of service personnel employed in Scotland has declined once again. Figures show that there has been a 9.5% reduction of employment levels for the armed forces in Scotland - down by 1,000 - over just one year.

Brendan O'Hara MP, SNP Defence spokesperson commented:

“In the space of one month we have heard the Chancellor announce £500million to upgrade the nuclear deterrent base at Faslane, meanwhile UK government cuts have left our armed forces numbers at a record low.

“David Cameron has his priorities completely wrong. Over the duration of his time as Prime Minister we have seen year-on-year cuts to armed personnel numbers - a staggering loss of 2,800 jobs in just five years.

“These cuts leave the UK over-stretched, over-exposed and under-protected. Our conventional defence assets are being sidelined by the UK government’s obsession with nuclear weapons. This is not only immoral but leaves a significant capability gap in our armed forces."

New low for service personnel numbers in Scotland

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has published figures which reveal the location and number of serving defence personnel in the UK – and once again the figures show disproportionately swingeing cuts in Scotland – with numbers reaching another new low.

At the same time, Westminster is determined to press ahead with the immoral and obscene Trident nuclear programme at a cost of up to £100 billion to be dumped on the Clyde despite opposition from civic Scotland – the trades unions – the Churches and the vast majority of Scotland’s elected representatives at Holyrood and Westminster.

Commenting on today’s figures, Brendan O’Hara MP, SNP Defence spokesperson said:

“These figures make for alarming reading – and confirm the continued, disproportionate cuts that successive Westminster governments have made to Scotland’s defence footprint – we are now left in the position where the total of all service and civilian personnel is at a new low of 13,180 – with the service personnel number in that figure at just 9,400.

“In the last three years of Tory led government the overall figures for England showed a decline of 11% compared with a whopping 17% in Scotland. With airbases such as Leuchars being axed we have seen Fife badly hit with a reduction from 1770 personnel to just 570 since April 2012.

“The Tories claim that they are the party of defence and yet we see time after time – they cut the defence footprint in Scotland to the bone to the point where we are left in the ridiculous situation in Scotland as a maritime nation without a single maritime patrol aircraft to defend our waters and without the proper conventional naval vessels based in Scotland, whilst Westminster is hell bent on renewing Scotland’s nuclear arsenal.’

“With plans by the UK Government to initiate a new Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) this autumn the Ministry of Defence must rule out further damaging cuts to Scotland’s defence communities who have been hit by job losses, base closures and cuts to key conventional capabilities.”