The arrival of this final submarine 'Vengeance' was delayed from earlier in the year because of a fault in the coolant system for the nuclear reactor. The revised timing of its arrival seems likely to spark a new round of debate between players in the Scottish election battle. Anti-nuclear feeling provides a rare area of agreement between the SNP and Scottish Labour Party. The SNP strongly oppose nuclear weapons and have stated that SNP policy is to kick Trident out of Scotland.
Trident is obscenely expensive, and illegal under international law.
This provides a key area of contention with the British Labour Party who have strongly and repeatedly made clear their commitment to keep nuclear weapons as central to their defence policy. Defence Secretary George Robertson, also a Scot, last month attacked the SNP on their anti-nuclear weapons policy, pointing in media interviews to the jobs provided to Scotland by the UK nuclear weapons programme. New research by CND shows that far from being an efficient way of providing jobs each Trident job costs 222,000 per year. This was revealed in recent letters from the MoD to MPs. The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are preparing a reception for the submarine, joined by ex SNP leader and current senior National Executive member Billy Wolfe, a representative of the Green Party, Ploughshares activists and Faslane Peace Camp members.