Scotland and the prospects for removing Trident

became independent, according to a former leading civil servant. Ciaran
Martin, who was constitution director at the Cabinet Office between 2011
and 2014, said the Scottish government had “no convincing plan for what
it intended to do about” the missiles during the campaign for
independence. He urged both sides to be more honest about the outcome of a
second referendum, which he said should take place if there is a
pro-independence majority returned at the Holyrood election. “In reality,
given the costs, security and safety issues around nuclear submarines, and
the lack of an easy alternative location, there is no practical prospect of
getting nuclear weapons safely out of Scottish waters for decades, and a
grown-up Scottish government would have to come to an arrangement with the
UK based on a recognition of that reality,” he wrote in a paper. “The
Scottish government would do well to come clean about this in a future
campaign.”

Times 14th April 2021

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trident-will-have-to-stay-in-independent-scotland-xst2v73hb