THE SNP will "be forced" to change their stance on nuclear weapons with the party's current position "open to challenge", a senior party source has claimed.
Last month, former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford claimed the party should ditch its nuclear disarmament pledge in an article he wrote for The Times.
He said he wants a multilateral approach to disarmament, which would mean weapons would be given up under agreements obliging other nuclear-armed states to do the same after peace is achieved in Ukraine.
First Minister John Swinney swiftly rejected Blackford's argument and reiterated the SNP's long-held stance against nuclear weapons, but that has apparently not stopped debate within party ranks on whether a change of tack is needed.
A senior SNP figure told Politico: "[The change in position] is going to be forced upon them anyway.
"The SNP is in a very different position [on defence] from where it was a few years back — and the current stated position is open to challenge.”
A second SNP official told the publication the party had had a "disgraceful" position on defence in the past, referring in particular to Alex Salmond’s opposition to the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999.
"There’s far more maturity in the SNP on defence now … we won’t be using ['bairns, not bombs'] on leaflets now," they said.
Throughout the 2014 independence referendum they used the slogan "bairns not bombs" and continued to use it in landslide elections that followed.
Blackford still wants to see the removal of Trident from Scotland but has asked what the roadmap to achieving that target is.
He said that “when the facts change, careful consideration of our response is appropriate” and that “there must now be a concentration of minds on a multilateral approach to achieve nuclear de-escalation”.
It was a surprising article given the SNP has been so intrinsically linked to a disarmament stance over the years.
Disarmament is still very much the position of many SNP politicians, including MP Stephen Gethins who said: "When Scotland is independent and seeking to rejoin the EU, I think you'd want to see the U.K.’s nuclear deterrent removed as quickly and as safely as possible."
He said it would be “inappropriate” to take a multilateral stance on Trident’s removal.
Another SNP official insisted “there isn’t any chance of the policy changing.”
Former SNP MP Alyn Smith added: "The party is not changing its stance in any sense.
“We will be getting the nuclear weapons off our soil and out of our waters."
