TRIDENT WILL BE CENTRAL ISSUE IN ELECTION CAMPAIGN

TRIDENT WILL BE CENTRAL ISSUE IN ELECTION CAMPAIGN

INDEFENSIBLE TO WASTE £100 BILLION ON WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AS
WESTMINSTER CUTS SERVICES

Scottish National Party leader and First Minister Alex Salmond MSP today
(Saturday) joined Reverend Ian Galloway, CND Chair Kate Hudson, MPs and
MSPs, actor David Hayman, and hundreds of ordinary Scots in a march
through Edinburgh protesting against the replacement of Trident.

Addressing the crowd, Mr Salmond said that Trident would be a central
issue in the General Election campaign, and that the decision to waste
£100,000 million on new nuclear missiles while public services are under
threat was "indefensible and obscene".

Mr Salmond said:

"There is massive opposition to dumping a new generation of weapons of
mass destruction in Scotland. The Scottish Parliament has voted against
the 'son of Trident', a majority of Scottish MPs reject it, and it is
going to be a central issue in the General Election campaign.

"At a time when Westminster is imposing cuts in public services to deal
with Labour's recession, with much deeper cuts planned in the future, and
the Scottish Government's budget is falling in real terms for the first
time since devolution, to waste £100 billion on weapons of mass
destruction is indefensible and obscene.

"Any way you look at it - on moral, financial, or defence grounds -
renewal of Trident is completely untenable, and I believe that position
can prevail in the General Election.

"The tide has well and truly turned on Trident - and the General Election
offers the opportunity to ensure that weapons of mass destruction are
banished from Scotland forever."