SNP MSP Gil Paterson has condemned the UK government for withholding details of a serious malfunction in a Trident test launch last June – just weeks before the vote to renew Trident to the tune of £205bn.
It has been widely reported that during a test launch, an unarmed Trident missile had fired in the wrong direction towards the US coastline. The major failure was not shared publicly ahead of the vote on Trident renewal. The Clydebank and Milngavie MSP said: “It is all very well for the Tory Government keeping this malfunction of Trident a secret – but Clydebank is just a few miles from these weapons of mass destruction Faslane. “I’ve been saying this for three decades: I’m not so worried about a war – I don’t think anyone will press the button – but the potential for human error that could wipe Clydebank, and indeed Scotland, off the face of the Earth. That’s why the Tory Government had kept this human error a secret. “Moreover, a disgusting £17 million is used every time one of these monstrosities are tested, and the recent news shows our nuclear weapons programme is not just grossly expensive but unreliable and unsafe. “In the Scottish National Party, we shall continue pressing the Tory Government for answers and hold the Prime Minister to account for her lack of transparency.” ENDS |
|