Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to scrap nuclear deterrent and expose UK to Putin’s wrath
Ukraine: Sergiy Kyslytsya on Putin's 'madness' and nuclear threat
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The Scottish First Minister is due to give her weekly update on the pandemic today at Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament. During her last address to MSPs, Ms Sturgeon outlined her government’s plans for Scots to emerge from the COVID-19 measures. All Scotland’s legal Covid restrictions are set to end on March 21, meaning vaccine passports for nightclubs and sports venues will no longer be required.
In her latest message, the SNP leader may also discuss Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine as troops close in on the capital Kyiv.
The First Minister condemned the invasion of Ukraine as “horrific” last week as Russia began bombing targets in its neighbour’s territory.
Since then, Ms Sturgeon has lent her support to the UK Government in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s nuclear weapons threats.
In his pre-invasion address last week, Putin emphasised that his country “remains one of the most powerful nuclear states”.
On Sunday, the Russian President put the forces in control of his country’s nuclear weapons on “special alert”.
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He claimed his escalation of the nuclear threat was because of “aggressive statements” by the West.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov blamed the nuclear escalation on the UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who had warned of a Russian conflict with the NATO military alliance unless Putin was stopped in Ukraine.
He said: “I would not call the authors of these statements by name, although it was the British Foreign Minister.”
Many across Europe and the world are worried about Putin’s increasingly erratic behaviour, concerned that such a figure has his finger on the nuclear button.
A key dynamic in the era of nuclear weapons is what is known as Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), meaning that world powers do not launch nuclear weapons because they know their enemies also possess them, and doing so would mean they get destroyed in return.
Meanwhile, unearthed comments from SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon expose her party’s insistence that the UK gets rid of its Scotland-based Trident nuclear deterrent.
In a 2019 article for the Observer, Ms Sturgeon said: “We should lead the way by scrapping nuclear weapons and investing that money in our communities and our public services.
“The fact that the Westminster parties are united in their opposition to this approach will only confirm to many Scots that independence is the only way to scrap Trident once and for all.
“My message is simple – the overwhelming majority of countries the world over do not have nuclear weapons.
“We do not need nuclear weapons. And we should never, ever use nuclear weapons.”
The bases housing the UK’s Trident nuclear submarines are located at Faslane and Coulport on the west coast of Scotland.
The SNP’s long standing policy has been to remove the nuclear deterrent from Scotland in the event of Scottish independence.
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At the SNP National Conference in September, delegates backed the removal of Trident from Scotland within three years of Scotland leaving the UK.
The SNP has pledged to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence by the end of 2023, if the pandemic allows.
Scots rejected independence from the UK at the first referendum on the issue in 2014.
The UK Government is opposed to a Scottish breakaway, and the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the result of the first public vote must be respected.
In her piece for the Observer, Ms Sturgeon also warned of the “millions” of people that could be killed if a world leader pressed the nuclear button.
She said: “There is a theory – and it is one I fundamentally disagree with – that nuclear weapons make us safer, as no country would pick a fight with a nuclear power.
“But even those who buy into the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction should baulk at the casual way in which political discourse on this topic has developed.”
The First Minister added: “A dated, Cold War mentality is used to cloak these weapons of mass destruction in respectability.”
Ms Sturgeon defended Conservative Foreign Secretary Liz Truss amid the war of words with Russia, despite their political differences.
She said in a statement: “Whatever political disagreements any of us have with Liz Truss ‒ and I have many deep differences with her ‒ we should not fall for this transparent Russian attempt to divert.
“The only person responsible for Putin’s despicable nuclear threat is Putin.”
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