Constitution 'to ban nuclear arms'

Oct 7 2012

A written constitution for an independent Scotland should explicitly ban nuclear weapons from the country, Alex Salmond has said.

The SNP said such a move would reinforce the party's "complete opposition" to Trident nuclear weapons in Scotland.

The proposal was unveiled as nationalists prepare to debate plans to abandon their historic opposition to keeping Nato membership after a vote for independence.

Mr Salmond, the First Minister and SNP leader, said opposition to Trident should be enshrined in a written constitution if Scotland votes 'Yes' to independence in 2014.

He said: "The SNP Government will be bringing forward a white paper on independence which proposes a written constitution for an independent Scotland, and that constitution will have to be ratified by the Scottish Parliament elected in 2016.

"The SNP position on this is that the constitution should include an explicit ban on nuclear weapons being based on Scottish territory. This reinforces the SNP's unshakeable opposition to nuclear weapons, and that is the context in which we will debate Nato at the forthcoming party conference.

"The resolution to be debated at conference does make an independent Scotland's membership of Nato conditional on the acceptance of Scotland's non-nuclear status, in line with the vast majority of current Nato members."

Plans by the SNP leadership to keep Scotland in Nato after independence were on Saturday branded "offensive" by Green leader Patrick Harvie.

Opening his party conference in Glasgow, he took a swipe at the policy U-turn, suggesting people who want independence as a way of removing the Trident nuclear deterrent from Scottish waters will be feeling let down.

The SNP will debate the change of tack at its conference later this month.