UK Government urged to stop 'frittering away' money on Trident nuclear weapons

Martin Docherty-Hughes has said the millions being spent on the nuclear deterrent should be going to "conventional military or vital frontline services" instead.

The SNP has urged the UK Government to stop "frittering away" money on Trident just days after it emerged that a nuclear submarine nearly sunk.

The party's defence spokesperson Martin Docherty-Hughes has said that the millions which will be put towards the nuclear deterrent should be going to "conventional military or vital frontline services" instead.

It was reported last week that a Royal Navy nuclear sub sinking towards its crush depth was saved moments from disaster.

A depth gauge on the decades-old Vanguard class sub was not working and was only saved after engineers on board alerted the crew. The vessel was carrying 140 crew and Trident 2 missiles.

The Vanguard submarines are based at Faslane Naval Base on the River Clyde.

At least one Royal Navy sub with nuclear missiles has been on patrol since 1969 in case of an attack.

The UK has four of the vessels but only two are currently working. On is having a major refit and the other is undergoing sea trials after repairs went £300 million over budget.

Docherty-Hughes warned that there could be more malfunctions in the future and that costs will continue to skyrocket.

He urged the UK Government to get rid of the nuclear deterrent and spend the money in other areas.

Docherty-Hughes said: "After the cancellation of HS2, trident replacement is the single largest public procurement contract this government has on the books: yet it beset by red flags, runaway costs and overruns which are now beginning to have very real repercussions for serving personnel forced into exceptional tours, and potentially on the public.

"Because of significant cost and project overruns, these vessels are now expected to have a lifespan of over 40 years: meaning we are only going to hear a few more stories like this one."

He said both the Tories and Labour refuse to discuss the amount of money which will be spent on the subs: "Yet thanks to the cosy relationship between Labour and Tories on the issue, any attempt to bring wider democratic scrutiny on the issue is dismissed on spurious grounds.

"People in Scotland deserve better from the Ministry of Defence than this conspiracy of silence over these Thatcher-era subs.

"The functioning – or lack thereof - of the nuclear enterprise is of huge national importance and it makes a mockery of the democratic process to see it dismissed like this."

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Docherty-Hughes urged the UK Government to scrap Trident altogether.

He said: "Not only because the issues in the transition from Polaris to Vanguard were so well documented and the public needs answers on the possibility that the West Coast of Scotland could become a potential missile launch site, but because every penny that is frittered away on this project is a penny that can’t be spent either on the conventional military or on vital frontline services at a time when we are all feeling the pinch.”

The Ministry of Defence declined to comment.

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