Britain 'could move nuclear subs abroad'

The United Kingdom government has reportedly drawn up plans to move the country's Trident nuclear submarine bases to France or even the United States, should Scotland, where they are currently located, succeed in securing independence.

In a referendum in 2014, the people of Scotland voted by 55 percent to 45 percent to remain part of the UK, but since then, divisions between England and Scotland have grown, particularly since the Brexit referendum, which saw the whole of the UK, including Scotland, leave the European Union, despite Scotland having voted by 62 percent to 38 percent to remain in the EU.

The governing Scottish National Party, or SNP, is campaigning for a second independence referendum, and has always opposed Britain's nuclear capability being housed in the country, at Faslane and Coulport. The Financial Times reports that the prospect of an independent Scotland is causing sufficient concern in London for contingency plans to have been drawn up.

The three most likely alternative options available, it said, would be relocating elsewhere in the UK, moving abroad, or the London government establishing a British Overseas Territory within Scotland, incorporating the existing bases.

A study before the 2014 referendum put the cost of relocation in the UK, most likely to the Devonport dockyard in the south west of England, at between three and four billion pounds ($4.13-5.51 billion).

But writing in the Times, Scottish political columnist Kenny Farquharson said that for many SNP supporters, moving rather than removing nuclear weapons would be like "emptying your car's ashtray on somebody else's road".

"For many SNP folk, especially those who have been in the party a long time, one of the main purposes of independence is to rid the Clyde of weapons of mass destruction.

"Yet I see no moral virtue in a policy that would simply move the UK's nuclear warheads a few hundred miles south," he continued. "This is fly-tipping."

The FT said that Kings Bay in Georgia, home of the US navy's Atlantic submarine fleet, was the most financially attractive option, and Île Longue in Brittany, on the northwestern coast of France, was also a possibility.

It is believed that negotiating to stay in Scotland would be the most practical option, and industries linked to the defense facilities are an important contributor to the local economy, but with the SNP having supported nuclear disarmament for many years, it would not be straightforward.

"Like many other Scots, I've always been appalled that Britain's nuclear arsenal has been kept in my backyard," SNP leader and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wrote in 2019.

The Ministry of Defence told the Independent website there are "no plans" to move the submarines.

"The UK is strongly committed to maintaining its credible and independent nuclear deterrent at HM Naval Base Clyde, which exists to deter the most extreme threats to the UK and our NATO allies," it said.

A follow-up statement on Twitter added: "Contrary to a recent press report, the nuclear deterrent and the thousands of jobs which support it are staying in Scotland."