THE First Minister has called on the UK Government to divert spending on a Trident replacement on the River Clyde.
Speaking at a press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh on Wednesday, John Swinney said that nuclear weapons provide “no tangible or realistic benefit” to the military challenges the world currently faces.
It comes after Keir Starmer announced a dramatic increase in defence spending from its current 2.3% to 2.5% by 2027 in response to “tyrant” Vladimir Putin and amid uncertainty over the US’s commitment to European security.
The increase in military funding is coming at the expense of the aid budget, which has triggered fierce criticisms from charities.
Swinney suggested that, if anything, spending on the Trident replacement is an “inhibitor” to current military challenges due to the “resources they command”.
The £4 billion project to replace the Trident submarines was branded as “unachievable” for the third year in a row by a government watchdog earlier this month.
“There are other choices on defence expenditure to be made. Not renewing the Trident nuclear missile system would enable us to make a broader set of choices than if the UK commits to renewing the system,” he said.
“The situation we find ourselves in now is such that we need to think very carefully about what the threats are, and there's obviously a strategic defence review under way just now to think about those threats and to consider what the most effective way of responding to them is.
“And I think the investment in conventional weaponry is what we need to do.”
Meanwhile, Swinney also hit out at Labour Government cuts to international aid funding.
“I think the choices that have been made about slashing international aid are the wrong choices,” he said.
“I think they are short-sighted, if we go back to the foundations of the principles of international aid about trying to address some of the fundamental issues about inequality within our world.”
