Labour priorities questioned over Trident total

As Scotland faces the first funding cut since devolution as a result of cuts in the English health budget imposed by the Chancellor, SNP Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP has rounded on the UK Government over its economic priorities as a report by Greenpeace reveals that the cost of renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system will total more than £97bn.

The hidden cost of Trident replacement comes as the UK Cabinet meet in an attempt to identify possible spending cuts.

Mr Hosie said:

“It says everything about Labour’s priorities when, just as the Scottish Government focuses on protecting frontline public services from the Chancellor’s spending cuts, the Treasury is set to sink more than £97bn in new nuclear weapons.

“And as the Cabinet is recalled in an attempt to consider where spending cuts can be found, can none of these Labour Ministers see the elephant in the room – there is no more wasteful or unnecessary item of spending than Trident.   

“Throwing money away on these nuclear weapons is exactly the wrong choice, as is imposing cuts to public investment while the economy is struggling to re-establish growth. Labour’s choices are putting recovery at risk.

“Labour is presiding over the first real terms fall in Scotland’s public spending since the dark days of the Tories’ spending plans in the 1990s, and these Labour cuts will be hugely damaging to jobs and services. We need to change the profile of public spending by scrapping unnecessary, unaffordable, ‘white elephant’ projects such as Trident and ID cards – not by slashing front-line services like health and education, and capital investment.”

SNP Glasgow MSP Bill Kidd has today tabled a Motion the Scottish Parliament (text below) highlighting the hidden cost of Trident. Mr Kidd added:

“The study by Greenpeace exposes the true cost of Trident, and reinforces the urgency of dropping the renewal programme. It makes no sense to squander precious public resources at a time when the Treasury is imposing though cuts on essential frontline services.

“The UK Government’s catastrophic financial failure underlines the need for Scotland to have responsibility to run our own affairs – with the ability to take the decisions needed to reflate our economy, contribute to recovery, and overcome the Downing Street downturn.”

Note:

1. Glasgow SNP MSP Bill Kidd has tabled a Motion in the Scottish Parliament highlighting the hidden cost of Trident.

S3M-04887 Bill Kidd (Glasgow) (SNP): That the Parliament notes the publication of a new report by Greenpeace that refutes the UK Government estimates of the costs of renewing the Trident missile system; is concerned by the report’s finding that the total cost of replacing Trident will be £97 billion over the system’s 30-year life span; notes that the cost estimate provided in the Defence White Paper 2006, of £20 billion, does not take account of the cost of conventional military forces directly assigned to support Trident nor the cost of new installations that would be required at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston; believes that, in light of these distended costs and a £500 million cut in the Scottish budget ordered by the UK Government, this report highlights the continued urgency of dropping Trident; supports the aims and work of the Scottish Government’s Working Group on Scotland Without Nuclear Weapons, and calls on the UK Government to relinquish its dogged commitment to squandering precious public resources on a weapons system that is unnecessary and irrelevant.  2. Details of the Greenpeace report can be found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8262148.stm