As Westminster cuts bite majority support conventional defence

A YouGov poll, conducted during the defence review last week shows rising opposition to trident nuclear weapons at a time of conventional defence cuts.

The poll shows 67% of people opposed Government spending on renewing trident nuclear weapons at a time of cuts to conventional defence.  A majority of voters across all parties agreed that the Government should not buy a replacement for Trident and secure the conventional defences.

Commenting as Holyrood prepares to debate the establishment of nuclear weapons-free zones in Scotland today (Wednesday) Glasgow SNP MSP Bill Kidd  who will lead the debate welcomed poll results as a clear indication that with Westminster cuts beginning to bite it was increasingly unacceptable for money to be spent on new nuclear weapons.

The YouGov poll was conducted in the week of the UK Government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review which announced the closure of RAF Kinloss and created uncertainty over the future of RAF Lossiemouth, Fort George and the Army’s Edinburgh HQ.

Mr Kidd said: “This poll shows the vast majority of people would rather see our conventional forces supported than billions wasted on these weapons of mass destruction.

“People are clearly struggling to understand, at a time when budgets are being slashed by Tories and LibDems in London, why renewal of these weapons has not been ruled out completely.

“The Tory and Lib Dem Government may not have said much about Trident in the last week but it is still going ahead.  Instead of delay – which will no doubt increase cost – the LibDems should use what little influence they have and see Trident’s replacement scrapped for good.

“Even Tory voters now agree that spending money on new nuclear weapons is wasteful.

“Trident is morally wrong, it is now economically insane and there is an increasingly clear view from the public that they do not want these weapons on our shores.

“My motion on nuclear weapons-free zones will allow Parliament to have another opportunity today to speak out against the madness that is wasting money on nuclear weapons.

“Civil society, trade unions, religious organisations the Scottish Government, are working together to keep a new generation of Trident missiles out of Scotland – even military leaders openly question the affordability and rationale of these weapons, and I am certain Parliament will speak out against this waste of money by the Tory/LibDem government in London."

Notes:

1.      The poll results are as follows:

YouGov / SNP Survey Results

Sample Size: 1405 Scottish Adults Fieldwork: 18th - 20th October 2010

The UK Government plans to pay for a replacement for the Trident nuclear missile system at the same time as making cuts in conventional defence. Which of these statements comes closest to your opinion?

2.       The motion which will be debated in Parliament today is as follows:

S3M-07072# Bill Kidd (Glasgow) (Scottish National Party): Scotland’s Nuclear Weapons-free Zones—
That the Parliament believes that New Zealand has set a good example with the establishment of a succession of nuclear weapons-free zones; would welcome the establishment of such zones in Scotland in homes, classrooms, places of work, communities, local authorities and in the environs of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, with the aim to register Scotland as a single-state nuclear weapons-free zone with the United Nations, and would further welcome the development of a protocol for Scotland requesting that the nuclear weapons states honour such a zone by not deploying nuclear weapons on Scottish territory and by guaranteeing not to threaten or use nuclear weapons against Scotland.