THE only sensible response to the escalating nuclear stand-off between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un is to rid the UK of its atomic arsenal, according to a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated SNP MSP.
Bill Kidd, who was put forward for the honour by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) in 2016, said the UK should take a fresh look at unilateral disarmament in the face of rising tensions between the US and North Korea – a position that has been backed by the Scottish Greens.
Kidd said: “Last week saw irrational, irresponsible posturing from both sides of the Pacific. The only sensible reaction to such sabre rattling is to look afresh at the case for ridding the UK – and some day the world – of nuclear weapons. Continuing to harbour these weapons of mass destruction on the doorstep of Scotland's largest city is an absolute abomination, a waste of money, and completely devoid of any good sense.”
The UK’s Trident nuclear weapons are stored at HM Naval Base Clyde at Faslane, only 30 miles from Glasgow.
Mark Ruskell MSP, the Scottish Greens’ environment spokesperson, said: “Nuclear weapons don’t keep us safe. If they did, tensions wouldn’t be rising between the US and North Korea – two nuclear weapon states. As the two regimes remain at loggerheads, the rest of the world can send a clear message with disarmament that peace and diplomacy remain the only alternatives to mutually assured destruction.
"Here in the UK the Trident nuclear system is both costly and immoral and we should instead be using the tens of billions of pounds that will be used on replacing it, on protecting and improving our public services.”
A spokesman for the Conservatives said the party believes in multilateral disarmament. Speaking about the US and North Korea stand-off, a spokesman said: “While such threats exist, we think it would be wrong for the UK to give up its nuclear deterrent without other countries doing the same. That's why we support the renewal of Trident as the cornerstone of our nation's defence, and will continue to work with any and all parties to reach a nuclear-free world in future.”
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “We face the most complex, interwoven security and development challenges of our time as the current situation in North Korea proves. As a nuclear-armed power, the UK has a responsibility to fulfil its obligations under the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, but we would go further in government, by leading multilateral efforts with international partners and the UN to create a nuclear-free world.”
A spokesman for the UK Government said: “The UK firmly believes that the best way to achieve a world without nuclear weapons is through gradual multilateral disarmament negotiated using a step-by-step approach, within existing international frameworks.”
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