‘Get rid of Trident or back Tory WMD’: SNP calls on Scottish Labour ‘to be straight with people’

The Scottish National Party (SNP) has accused the leader of the Scottish Labour Party of being unclear on the party’s stance on the Trident nuclear deterrent system. The SNP urged Labour’s Kezia Dugdale to stop “misleading” people about backing or opposing Trident.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) has accused the leader of the Scottish Labour Party of being unclear on the party’s stance on the Trident nuclear deterrent system. The SNP urged Labour’s Kezia Dugdale to stop “misleading” people about backing or opposing Trident.

“This has been another week of absolute chaos for the Labour Party on the issue of Trident,” Bill Kidd, an SNP member of the Scottish parliament, said in a statement.

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Kidd accused Kezia Dugdale, the Labour Party’s leader in Scotland, of misleading the public, saying that it is essential that she clarifies whether the party will support the SNP’s proposal to dismantle the Trident nuclear weapons system or back the Conservative Party’s plan to continue it.

“It’s time for Kezia Dugdale and Labour to stop misleading the people of Scotland on the issue,” he said. “[Scottish Labour should] be straight with the people of Scotland – will they back the SNP in getting rid of Trident or will they back the Tories in spending 100 billion pounds [$153 billion] on weapons of mass destruction?”

So far three Labour members – Neil Findlay, Malcolm Chisholm and Elaine Smith – have agreed with the SNP’s motion not to renew Trident.

The British Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, last week made a decision seen as divisive by many by promising not to deploy nuclear weapons and vote against the renewal of the Trident program.

Trident has become a hot political issue, with Prime Minister David Cameron announcing on Wednesday that UK will be purchasing four more Trident submarines “in the coming years.”

The only base UK could keep the four Vanguard-class ballistic missile-equipped submarines is the UK Royal Navy’s Faslane naval base in Scotland.

British Defense Procurement Minister Philip Dunne has said the so-called “main gate” decision on Trident’s successor is expected next year.