The government’s commitment to nuclear weapons shows that the attacks on welfare are ideological. There is no austerity for weapons of mass destruction.
When Trident missiles become too old, in the next 15 to 20 years, their replacement is likely to cost £100 billion. That’s £25 billion for submarines, £4 to £6 billion for warheads and infrastructure, and £2 billion yearly running costs for up to 30 years.
These billions could pay for 120,000 new nurses every year for ten years or 60,000 new teachers for 20 years.
Most people in Scotland are opposed to Trident. A poll earlier this year showed 80 percent opposed its replacement.
The Scottish parliament announced earlier this year its “opposition to nuclear weapons and to the presence of Trident in Scotland”.
A more recent poll has shown the majority in Scotland do not believe nuclear weapons are any kind of practical defence.
The same poll showed that people felt Conservative governments were a more significant threat to Scotland than Iran or North Korea.
There is nowhere for Trident to go once it is removed from Faslane’s deep water port.
We can make the world a safer place by voting yes to independence and keeping up the pressure. One of the first decisions of an independent Scotland should be to scrap Trident.
Jude Mckechnie spoke to the workers leading the fightback against outsourcing
Judy Cox reviews End Times Fascism by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor
