NUKES: Funding for military gimmicks insult to the people of Scotland say Greens
A new £250 million investment from the UK Government into the Faslane nuclear weapons base is an ‘insult’ to local families in poverty, says the area’s Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer.
The United Kingdom’s nuclear weapons are housed on the River Clyde at HMNB Clyde, encompassing the Faslane and Coulport sites only 20 miles from Glasgow.
In recent years, the cost for these weapons of mass slaughter has skyrocketed, with a report in 2023 uncovering “costs increased by £38.2 billion to £99.5 billion” a 62% increase for the Defence Nuclear Organisation.
UK Labour Ministers Ian Murray and Maria Eagle will visit HMNB Clyde (Faslane) today to announce the funding for new nuclear infrastructure at the same time as their Government refused to lift thousands of children out of poverty by scrapping the Tories’ cruel two-child benefit cap and its associated ‘rape clause’.
Reacting to the visit Scottish Greens MSP for West Scotland, Ross Greer said:
“Pouring hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into military gimmicks won’t make us any safer. It will only take money away from the urgent work needed to lift children out of poverty and tackle the climate emergency. The only winners here are the arms companies who will make a fortune.
“The UK Government continues to use Scotland as a dumping ground for their weapons of mass slaughter. This new funding isn't going to reduce the risk of living near Faslane nor the totally unacceptable risk of transporting nuclear and explosive materials by road through Scotland’s towns and cities.
“Even if these weapons had no cost implications, they would still be totally immoral and a huge risk to the people of Scotland. There can never be justification for weapons which are only capable of indiscriminate mass killing. The terrible legacy of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is all the warning we need from history in that regard.
“Our communities in the West of Scotland need sustainable, safe jobs and a decent safety net in the social security system. This money could have been used for that, but instead it will go straight to some of the world’s biggest arms manufacturers.
“Faslane could be a conventional naval base, meeting our defensive needs on the west coast for a fraction of the cost of this nuclear arsenal, with the rest of that money used to make this a fairer and greener country. But yet again, it will instead be thrown into the bottomless pit of money that is the Trident nuclear weapon programme.”