Nuclear weapons are wrong today, tomorrow and always
The actions of the increasingly dangerous Trump administration leaves the case for UK-US nuclear cooperation in tatters, says Scottish Greens Co-Leader Patrick Harvie MSP.
The call follows warnings that the White House may end cooperation with the UK’s nuclear weapon programme and an intervention from former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford calling for his party to reconsider its commitment to unilateral disarmament.
Mr Harvie said:
“The moral case against nuclear weapons has not changed. They are weapons of mass destruction, incapable of discriminating between military and civilian targets; they are a moral abomination. They are wrong today, tomorrow and always.
“Their use would cause mass murder and environmental destruction on a scale never seen before. Under any circumstances, this would be a war crime of unprecedented proportions.
“That’s always been my position, and that of the Greens. However, the time has come when even those who have supported Trident in the past must recognise that the US is not a reliable ally with which nuclear cooperation can be a safe course of action.
“This is a time for us to be moving away from the extremist Trump administration, but maintaining these weapons of mass destruction would leave us tied to his dangerous and destructive foreign policy.
“I welcome the indication from the First Minister that the SNP will maintain their opposition to nuclear weapons in Scotland. But that logic must now apply to other areas of military and intelligence cooperation with the US.
“Our only route to safety is with fellow European democracies, not with a far right US President who is now clearly aligned with Vladimir Putin.”