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Election Candidates |
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| 2011 election constituency Etrick, Roxburgh & Berwickshire | |||||||||
| 2011 election region South of Scotland | |||||||||
| If you are a constituent then please email paul@brs-snp.org | |||||||||
Alternatively, you can send a letter or postcard to: |
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| - say what you think about the Government's plans for nuclear weapons in Scotland. If you include your postal address then you should get a reply. | |||||||||
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Replied to survey in March 2011: Question 1. The Scottish Parliament should continue to call on the UK government not to go ahead with the current proposal to replace Trident. - Yes Question 2. The Scottish Parlaiment should call on the UK government to cease the deployment of Trident - Yes Question 3. The Scottish Parliament should support a Nuclear Weapons Convention (a global ban on nuclear weapons). - Yes Question 4. Are you for or against the construction of new nuclear power stations in Scotland ? - Against " The SNP firmly believes that nuclear weapons have no place in a modern Scotland. We have consistently demanded the cancellation of the new generation of Trident missiles and their £100bn pound price tag. This project will merely contribute to further arms proliferation around the World and it is hard to take the moral high ground with states such as Iran or N Korea when we are busy rearming. "A majority of Scottish MSPs and MPs are against Trident, as are the Scottish public. Re-election of the SNP Scottish Government is in my view crucial to enable the case to be made for cancellation of Trident. At a time when the London parties are forcing Scotland to cut spending on vital local services, they all wish to see billions of pounds wasted on a new generation of nuclear weapons (up to £100 billion life cycle cost for new nuclear missiles and submarines). "Quite apart from my revulsion at the thought they might ever be used, defence chiefs have identified that this is an inappropriate spending priority in the face of new threats such as terrorism, rather than old style Cold War hostilities. Trident is no deterrent to a terrorist who wants to be martyred. This money should instead be spent on conventional defence investment, such as special forces and counter terrorism, while saving bases from closure, and on protecting vital public services. "We believe that renewal of Trident would be the wrong choice for our defence. "Nuclear power, while necessary in the short term, is not the future and it is dependent upon finite sources of uranium from often unpleasant and unstable regimes in developing nations. Any radiation leaks can potentially have global consequences and I am not satisfied that there is any truly safe options for storage of waste. "Let's instead invest in renewables (particularly offshore wind and wave/tidal), as well as new hydro schemes like Glendoe and carbon capture and storage. If we do that, we can see Scotland benefit from the development of up to 130,000 jobs for the low carbon economy and reap the benefits of a second win in what the First Minister has dubbed the 'natural lottery'. By 2020, investment in new nuclear plant for Scotland would be entirely unnecessary as existing nuclear output would be more than eclipsed by power capacity from new renewable technologies and development of power storage hydrogen fuel cells or similar) for intermittent wind energy supply will render nuclear power redundant."Recent surveys have also indicated strong public support for the SNP stance to prevent planning permission for any new proposals until such time as we have control of our own energy policy. , Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire and South of Scotland Region |
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| Stood in 2010 General Election for consituency |
