Keir Starmer hit out at the First Minister’s call to divert spending on a Trident replacement on the River Clyde at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Speaking at a press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh last week, John Swinney said that nuclear weapons provide “no tangible or realistic benefit” to the military challenges the world currently faces.
It came 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.
Swinney suggested that, if anything, spending on the Trident replacement is an “inhibitor” to current military challenges due to the “resources they command”.
The Prime Minister was responding to a question from SNP MP Chris Law, who said: Regrettably, it's clear for now the US can no longer be relied upon for security and peace in Europe."
He then asked: "So, will the Prime Minister provide leadership to our allies by urgently making the decision to be the first leader to release seized Russian state assets to Ukraine under the established principle of international law so that Putin must pay as the aggressor?”
Starmer responded that the profits on the interest of the assets are currently being used to help arm Ukraine, adding that further actions are being explored.
He then made a dig at the SNP’s position on the Trident submarines, saying: “At a time when defense and security in Europe and in the UK needs to be ramped up for all the reasons that [Chris Law] readily understands, for the SNP to maintain its position that it wants to get rid of the single most effective deterrent that we have, the nuclear deterrent, really has to be explained in its historical context.”
It came swiftly off the heels of the Scottish Secretary Ian Murray (above) making a similar attack, saying that Swinney is “all over the place in terms of defence”.
The comment came after the Labour MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven Joani Reid asked: “Does the Secretary of State agree with me that the SNP’s reckless pledge to scrap our nuclear deterrent at Faslane significantly threatens our national security?”
She also asked: “Does he agree that Trident – when the First Minister said that Trident has no tangible or realistic benefit to our current security challenges, does the Secretary of State share my view that the stance is fundamentally naïve and demonstrates that the SNP cannot be trusted with Scotland’s future?”
Murray replied: “Indeed, the First Minister is all over the place in terms of defence. He suggested that we should increase the 2.5% of GDP on defence spending by scrapping Trident.
“That’s already included in the 2.5% so would have made no difference whatsoever. They’re not credible at all on defence in Scotland and I would urge everyone in this House, every single party, to get behind the Prime Minister in our national interest.”
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,” Swinney said at the time.
“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.”
