CLEGG FAILS HIS OWN HONESTY TEST ON TRIDENT REPLACEMENT
The SNP called on the Lib Dems to “come clean” on their plans for Trident
replacement. Contrary to the impression given by Mr Clegg last night the
Liberal Democrats are also committed to spending billions of pounds on a
replacement for Trident. The absence of the SNP from the Leaders' debate
meant no questions were asked of Mr Clegg on this point, allowing him to
mislead viewers.
In the debate, Labour continued their commitment to waste £100 billion on
new nuclear weapons and the Conservatives justified the spending on
nuclear weapons by saying they could be turned toward China.
The Lib Dem’s actual position is that they continue to support nuclear
weapons at a cost of almost £25 billion over the next ten years and merely
oppose “like for like” replacement, but would still authorize spending on
a new generation nuclear missile system at a cost of billions more.
SNP Westminster leader and Defence spokesman Angus Robertson said:
“The nations of the UK were misled last night by a Lib Dem leader saying
one thing to the TV audience and another to the defence industry. The Lib
Dems failed their own honesty test on their first outing.
“The truth is the Lib Dems continue to back spending billions on nuclear
weapons in the UK. The absence of the SNP from the debate allowed them to
present a false prospectus to the nation as neither of the other
pro-nuclear parties dared to question them.
“Instead of misleading voters the Lib Dems should be honest with the
public – just as they called for last night – and admit that they will
continue to waste money on maintaining a nuclear arsenal in the UK.
“With costs at £2.1 billion a year for maintaining the metropolitan
parties weapons systems even before spending starts on like for like
replacements there is no excuse for keeping any form of nuclear weapons on
our shores whilst cutting spending on our public services.
“At a time when we face serious cuts to Scotland’s public sector budgets
and voters are looking for a real alternative and a positive vision for
our future the absence of the SNP and that positive view was telling.
“SNP MPs will argue to genuinely scrap the £100 billion due to be wasted
on Trident, end the UK’s nuclear arsenal and instead invest in health,
education and economic growth. It is only by electing strong local
champions from the SNP at this election that Scotland’s voice will be
heard as more nats mean less cuts.”
1. On Radio 4 on 7th April Nick Clegg admitted the Lib Dems plan to
continue with nuclear weapons: "What we're saying is that there are a
number of options that you could explore in future. You could equip the
Astute submarines… I asked Menzies Campbell to look at the range of
options, and he's published a number of options, simply to make the point
which the other parties won't even accept that there are alternatives to
like for like replacement of Trident."
2. April 7th: Belfast Telegraph re Nick Clegg.He also defended the Lib
Dems' plans to scrap the update of the Trident nuclear deterrent, saying
it was unnecessary and unaffordable. He insisted however that he was not
arguing for unilateral nuclear disarmament, and said his party was looking
at cheaper options to replace Trident.
"Whether we have a nuclear deterrent or not depends heavily on whether
multilateral nuclear disarmament in the non-proliferation talks succeeds
or not," he said. "I am a multilateralist, I believe that we should be not
just throwing away our nuclear deterrent without any regard to what others
are doing."
Read more:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.
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