Nicola Sturgeon: Ukraine invasion shows why an independent Scotland must join Nato

First Minister, speaking in US, says becoming part of the alliance is ‘essential’, despite her desire to scrap Britain’s Trident deterrent

HMS Victorious sails towards Faslane naval base. Nicola Sturgeon wants to do away with the UK's Trident nuclear deterrent
HMS Victorious sails towards Faslane naval base. Nicola Sturgeon wants to do away with the UK's Trident nuclear deterrent

Nicola Sturgeon has said the Ukraine war has strengthened her belief an independent Scotland must join Nato, despite her opposition to nuclear weapons and desire to scrap Britain’s Trident deterrent.

The First Minister used a speech in Washington to argue that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Russia’s neighbour had shown joining the alliance was “absolutely right and essential”.

Appearing at the Brookings Institution, an American think-tank, she said Nato membership would be a “cornerstone of an independent Scotland’s security policy”.

She noted that the SNP had ditched its previous opposition to membership in 2012, and that Sweden and Finland now wanted to join “with a level of public support that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago.”

But she failed to mention to her American audience her policy of removing Trident from the Faslane naval base on the Clyde if Scotland separated from the UK.

Nicola Sturgeon: 'The events of the last three months have strengthened my conviction'
Nicola Sturgeon: 'The events of the last three months have strengthened my conviction' Credit: PA

Nato is a nuclear-tipped alliance and Trident forms part of its “supreme guarantee” of its members’ security. Major doubts have been cast on whether a separate Scotland would be admitted if it insisted on Trident’s removal.

An adviser to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister stated in March that the Russian invasion “wouldn’t have started” if her country had not given up its nuclear weapons in the Nineties.

However, the SNP has continued to argue that Britain should unilaterally give up its nuclear deterrent, even after Putin last month boasted he had conducted the first successful test of a new missile known as “Satan II”, which carries a dozen warheads.

Ms Sturgeon’s Green coalition partners in the Scottish Government recently said there was “no appetite” among its members to reverse their opposition to joining the defence alliance.

But, speaking in Washington, Ms Sturgeon said that Sweden and Finland being “firmly on track” to join Nato was “highly relevant to Scotland”.

“There is no doubt the events of the last three months have strengthened my conviction that this position is absolutely the right and essential one,” she said.

“I’m even more firm in my view today that, coupled with a strong relationship with the United Kingdom, membership of the EU, and membership of Nato, would be the cornerstone of an independent Scotland’s security policy.”

Ms Sturgeon noted that Scotland had a key strategic position on the northern edge of Europe, where Russian military aircraft and submarines have regularly encroached in recent years.

She said: “So we are clearer than ever that membership of Nato would not only be vital to Scotland’s security, it would also be the principal way in which an independent Scotland in an interdependent world would contribute to the collective security of our neighbours and allies.”

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