A POLITICIAN in the North of Ireland has offered the services of Irish loughs and ports to store Britain’s nuclear missiles if they are removed from Scotland.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Jeffrey Donaldson made the comments during a House of Commons debate yesterday in which a Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) politician said most Scottish MPs want the Trident missiles out of Scotland.
“With support for the Union in Northern Ireland growing ever stronger, may I help to assuage the concerns of the Right Honourable Member for Moray by saying that we have lots of loughs and lots of ports, and that if the government ever need a new home for Trident, Ulster is there,” Mr Donaldson said.
The current British nuclear arsenal, a programme known as Trident, consists of four submarines capable of carrying the weaponry.
The programme has the armed submarines based at the Clyde Naval Base at Faslane but their presence is strongly opposed by the SNP.
Mr Donaldson clarified on BBC Good Morning Ulster that he was not pitching to “steal” the Trident programme from Scotland.
“I’m not trying to make a pitch to steal it from Scotland, far from it, I’m just saying that in the event of an SNP government in Scotland deciding to turf the Ministry of Defence, I’m only urging the Prime Minister to look at Northern Ireland,” he said.
But Mr Donaldson’s comments have been met with backlash from his colleagues at Stormont, who oppose the Trident programme.
“Not only am I fundamentally opposed to Trident, I am appalled that the Tory government feels able to squander £167bn on nuclear weapons when they are imposing austerity,” said Green Party NI’s Steven Agnew.
“In addition, it is ridiculous and arrogant of DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson to offer for Trident to be homed in Northern Ireland without public consultation or debate.”
The party has also called on Mr Donaldson to specify which ports and loughs he would offer for the Trident submarines.
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