Labour Leader Ed Miliband confirmed in March of this year that the party is "in favour" of retaining the UK's independent nuclear deterrent, however Labour officials have remained silent on whether they support the Conservatives’ preferred option of a like-for-like replacement of Trident or a less costly alternative as suggested by the Liberal Democrats.
This lack of a position does split the Labour Party on the issue. A spokesperson for Labour said last year that Johann Lamont was in favour of renewing Trident – although she herself has repeatedly dodged the issue - while her deputy leader Anas Sarwar claims he wants “to obliterate all nuclear weapons not just in Scotland but right across the UK and right across the world”. Senior Labour MP Ian Davidson who convenes the Scottish Affairs Select Committee has also called for Trident to be completely scrapped.
But the Labour leadership in London remains a pro-nuclear weapons party, as Jim Murphy MP Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, has reiterated. Opposition to Trident among the people of Scotland is overwhelming, with 80% of people indicating they are against renewing Trident.
Commenting, SNP MSP Bill Kidd, who is a Co-President of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) said: “Despite being a pro-nuclear weapons party, Labour are trying to dodge the Trident debate - but they can't hide from it. Only a Yes vote for an independent Scotland in 2014 will get rid of Trident from Scotland, and stop billions of Scottish taxpayers’ pounds being wasted on unusable and immoral weapons of mass destruction."
