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Speech in Scottish Parliament Bill Aitken |
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| 21 December 2006 | ||
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Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): Debates on this subject always generate great passion, as a number of speeches have demonstrated. I cannot agree with Jackie Baillie that we should deprecate people who hold a sincere political view, although I am singularly unpersuaded by the arguments of the Scottish National Party. In her opening speech, Nicola Sturgeon talked about the moral dimension to the argument. I think that we all agree on aspects of what she said. She must realise that the SNP benches do not have a monopoly of concern about the possible consequences of the launch of a Trident missile. However, to suggest that the country is not safer because we have had nuclear weapons during the past 60 years or so is to deny the lessons of history. Nicola Sturgeon: Does Bill Aitken think that the 180 countries throughout the world that do not have nuclear weapons are less safe because of that? Bill Aitken: The 180 countries that do not have nuclear weapons have not been in a position to acquire them—that is the bottom line. Nicola Sturgeon: Should they acquire them? Will the member give way on that point? Bill Aitken: I must move on. The fact is that members are part of a cosseted generation in that none of us has had to go to war. My father had to go to war, as did his father, but that has not happened to us because of the deterrent effect of nuclear weapons. To suggest that there is a lack of candidates who might cause trouble in the world is to demonstrate a degree of naivety that I find astonishing. We need look no closer than the middle east, where one country has built up significant conventional and nuclear forces and is led by a president whom we might kindly describe as a megalomaniac—[ Interruption.] The Deputy Presiding Officer (Murray Tosh): Order. Bill Aitken: It is irresponsible to suggest that we should not retain our nuclear deterrent in such a climate. The amendment in Jim Wallace's name represents a typical Liberal exercise in stalling and deferring decisions. The Liberals will have to come off the fence eventually: I remind Mike Rumbles that he who constantly sits on the fence ends up speaking in a high-pitched voice. Mr Wallace: Will the member give way? Bill Aitken: I am sorry, but I do not have time. The Liberal party will eventually have to decide where it stands. Jim Wallace is right that the threat that we faced changed completely in the 1980s. Of course it did: the cold war ended as a result of the firm line that was taken by President Reagan and Mrs Thatcher. However, who can say that the threat will not change again? History shows that events are always fluid and we must acknowledge that. I think that all members genuinely wish that nuclear weapons had not been invented, but the nuclear genie is firmly out of the bottle and we must deal with the situation as it is and not as we wish it was. To suggest that this country should not have a nuclear deterrent is not just to fail to learn the lessons of history but to demonstrate a naivety and irresponsibility that Parliament should reject. |