Scottish Parliament
Official Report 28 May 2009
*Civil Contingency Plans*
*3.* *Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): *To ask the Scottish Government whether civil contingency plans will be revised in light of the recent disclosure that radioactive coolant from a nuclear submarine leaked at HM Naval Base Clyde. (S3O-7160)
** *The Cabinet Secretary for Justice (Kenny MacAskill): *That is a reserved matter. Nuclear and radiological safety regulations require any installation to have contingency plans in place to respond to any type of accident or emergency involving ionising radiation. It is a regulatory requirement that those plans are kept under continual review.
** *Christine Grahame: *Does the cabinet secretary agree with the assessment of retired general Sir Hugh Beach, the former deputy commander-in-chief of United Kingdom land forces, who said of the UK’s Trident missile system:
“It’s no bloody use. Let’s not waste money on it”?
He continued:
“Britain cannot claim to have derived any direct security benefit from the possession of nuclear weapons”.
Without using unparliamentary language, will the cabinet secretary support my point that the billions of pounds that are earmarked for Trident’s replacement could be better invested in improving the health service and schools and in job creation throughout Scotland?
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** *The Presiding Officer (Alex Fergusson): *That is an entirely reserved matter, but I will allow the cabinet secretary to comment.
** *Kenny MacAskill: *I am more than happy to make it clear that the Scottish Government’s position is that weapons of mass destruction are militarily ineffective in dealing with the troubles that we face in the world; economically unaffordable when we have the crisis of cuts in public services; and morally reprehensible in the world in which we live.
** *The Presiding Officer: *Members have previously been cautioned against using unparliamentary language, even when it appears in a quotation. I caution members against doing so in future.