The UK's £172 billion defence 'black hole'
Published in the August 8th edition of The National and the August 9th edition of the Edinburgh Evening News.
You’ve got to hand it to the MOD. It has a knack for coming up with alliterative ‘killer’ names for its rust-bucket class of nuclear subs that have been stuck in port, mostly in Scotland, for over a year, polluting our waters.
The Royal Navy’s newest class of ‘hunter-killer’ subs, named ‘Astute’, are anything but. HMS ‘Ambush’ hasn’t sailed for 2 years. HMS ‘Audacious’ is grounded in Devonport. HMS ‘Artful’ has been stranded at His Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde for 14 months along with HMS ‘Astute’. A crane to lift the subs from the water at Faslane hasn’t operated for over a year because the firm that manufactured the ropes went bust.
The only operational drydock in the UK is HMNB Devonport which is undergoing a £750 million upgrade by American defence contractor Babcock.
Meanwhile, all six of the UK’s Type 45 Destroyers, another alliterative delight that trips off the tongue - Dragon, Defender, Diamond, Duncan, Dauntless and Daring - are docked at Portsmouth and Birkenhead, where ‘defects,’ mainly overheating generators, are being repaired but won’t be completed until 2028.
Starmer has said his government will spend 2.5% of GDP on defence and up to £41 billion on the Dreadnought class of nuclear subs, but independent sources estimate the full cost of the UK nuclear weapons programme could reach £172 billion. (Naturally, Dreadnought will be based in Scotland, not England, given the risk of radioactive discharges and potential explosions.)
Even the MOD admits the programme will cost £118b over the next decade. But Starmer and Reeves can’t seem to find £1.3b to end the 2-child benefit cap or £1.4b to keep seniors from freezing this winter.
How much more abuse and incompetence at the hands of the failing UK will the Scottish People take before they call it quits on this union?
We should refuse to accept any more nuclear weapons or dubs until the MoD clear the backlog of rusting hulks emitting dangerous substances close to our communities.
We need to close the border to such dangerous weapons and need to remind our government that such action is possible and legal to do so because the sovereign territory of Scotland does not belong to Westminster.
We have had enough of being treated, byas a dumpling ground for toxic waste for decades. It is time we took a stand and challenged Westminster policies that we fo jot agree with.
If only our government would do this, though I fear we, the people may need to mobilise and do it ourselves. The French, especially farmers, manage to block roads and motorways because of far less damaging policies than what is being imposed on Scotland.
Accustomed to living a colony with no power to make the really important decisions, the Scottish people will continue to accept the constant abuse dished out by the British state for the foreseeable future, Leah, unless others follow your example and start to educate them about what belonging to the UK actually means and how leaving it could transform our country. All independence-supporting parties should get together to co-operate and deal with this issue right now. They have all failed to tackle it in the past. I wonder which party/parties would not sign up to an education campaign to make sure that the Scottish electorate is well-informed before the 2016 elections? I wonder which party/parties would refuse to work together for the good of their country?