Ian Blackford - SNP - Trident

Daily Mail 6th March 2025

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14470703/SNP-nuclear-meltdown-rebels-call-party-ditch-stance-disarmament.html ;

JOHN Swinney has responded to SNP grandee Ian Blackford after he called for the party to change its stance on the unilateral disarmament of the UK’s nuclear deterrent. The First Minister said: “Ian’s a very close friend and colleague of mine, but I take a different view on this. “I think nuclear weapons have not managed to stop the conflict we are wrestling with in Ukraine, which has very direct implications for our own security and safety. “I think we need to have the capacity to enable us to defend ourselves and to support the Ukrainians with conventional weapons.” Swinney said he favours an “orderly” removal of Trident from Faslane.

The National 6th March 2025

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24987156.john-swinney-responds-ian-blackfords-call-trident-rethink/

Why Ian Blackford’s wrong to call for SNP shift on nuclear weapons. Writing in The Times, Blackford points out that the patience of the US regarding the EU’s defence spending has been “wearing thin” since at least the first Trump presidency. He argues this fact should prompt the SNP to re-evaluate its perspective on Scottish security, particularly as regards nuclear weapons. Rhetorical commitment to multilateral disarmament policy is a smokescreen to obfuscate the further development of nuclear capabilities by nuclear states. Furthermore, there has been little to no indication that the UK Prime Minister is keen to engage in multilateral disarmament negotiations. In fact, he recently criticised the SNP for their opposition to nuclear weapons, reiterating the supposed centrality of nuclear doomsday devices to our military policy.

The National 6th March 2025

https://www.thenational.scot/politics/24988514.ian-blackfords-wrong-call-snp-shift-nuclear-weapons/

 CHANGING the SNP’s policy on nuclear weapons would be a “panic measure” demonstrating the same lack of principles as the Tories or Labour, an MSP has warned. Bill Kidd, who is also co-president of the global group Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, issued a warning to his party after its long-standing policy on nuclear weapons came under fire on multiple fronts – including from within. As the fear of Russia rises in Europe, Labour have chosen nuclear weapons as an issue on which to attack the SNP. Just this week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer took aim at the party’s stance on nuclear weapons in the Commons – followed by Labour MP Joani Reid and Scottish Secretary Ian Murray doing the same two days later. Then, Ian Blackford, the SNP’s former Westminster leader, joined the calls for the SNP to change tack on nuclear weaponry – saying the party should support multilateral disarmament instead of unilateral disarmament. The question being asked is simple: will the SNP stick with their support for the removal of nuclear weapons from Scotland on day one of independence? Or, will they change tack and say nukes can stay on the Clyde indefinitely (which, in practice, is what waiting for multilateral disarmament means)? For Kidd, who spoke to the Sunday National from a UN summit on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the answer is clear. “There may be increasing pressure from the UK, from the UK political parties – and in fact I expect that there will be – but that is another example of why the SNP should stand firmly as an anti-nuclear [party],” he said.