MSP says weapons should not be transported on our roads
The spectre of a nuclear disaster happening on the streets of Rutherglen was raised in the Scottish Parliament last week.
Holyrood debated whether people should know what to do in the event of an emergency involving weapons of mass destruction that are transported on our roads.
And Rutherglen MSP Clare Haughey said it is “incredibly lucky” that no major incidents have occurred.
She said: “Trucks carrying nuclear material can be on motorways or main roads at any time of day or night without residents on the route ever knowing.”
And she said research conducted by Nukewatch showed that nuclear warheads were transported through the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency at least three times between January 2014 and January 2015.
On those occasions, the weapons were moved in convoys of about 20 vehicles travelling along the M74, then on to Glasgow city centre.
Ms Haughey added: “More recent figures that have been collated by Nukewatch show that the number of Trident warheads being transported to and from the Clyde increased fivefold between 2015 and 2016. Therefore, it is very likely that nuclear weapons have continued to be moved within my constituency and at a more frequent rate than was previously imagined.”
South Lanarkshire is one of the local authority areas through which nuclear convoys may travel, and the MSP continued: “It is frightening to think that if an incident were to take place, our authorities would be poorly prepared to take swift action.
“We are incredibly lucky that no major incidents have occurred in the 50 years for which nuclear weapons have been transported.” The debate heard that in 2007, several vehicles in a convoy were separated and became lost in the Stirling area due to heavy fog. And in 1987, two vans, each with two nuclear warheads, came off the road after skidding on ice. Ms Haughey said: “The weapons should not be in transit in the first place, especially not during challenging weather conditions. The Ministry of Defence admitted in 2016 that, in the three previous years, 43 safety incidents had been reported to it. Accidents can and do happen, and the risk that the UK Government continues to take is not a risk that is worth taking. “I repeat the calls that other members have made. The people of Scotland, civic Scotland, the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Scotland’s churches, the Scottish Parliament and the majority of Scotland’s MPs do not want the Trident nuclear weapons system to be renewed.”