Trident Renewal

Debate between Eilidh Whiteford and Joan Ruddock

Tuesday 20th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Dame Joan Ruddock]

As I go on in my speech, I hope to indicate that I am talking about today and tomorrow.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

The right hon. Lady is making an important speech about the way we think about these issues. Does she agree that the threats emerging in the world at a geopolitical level relate to terrorism? Does she agree that a nuclear bomb is no use at all against terrorists?

[Dame Joan Ruddock]

I agree with the hon. Lady, but, interestingly, the Government do not, and I will address that point, too.

So what do the true believers say Trident renewal is for? Three threat scenarios are usually advanced: the re-emergence of a major nuclear threat, which is code for Russia; new states acquiring nuclear capability, which is code for Iran; and state-sponsored nuclear terrorism. Russia is behaving badly, it is modernising its nuclear arsenals and it is threatening Ukraine, but why would Russia specifically target Britain for a nuclear attack? We have to ask the same question of Iran, surrounded as it is by nuclear-armed Pakistan on one side and nuclear-armed Israel on the other: what would be the motivation for an attack on the UK? Is it not clear that, however unpalatable, painstaking diplomatic negotiation with this regime aimed at preventing its acquisition of nuclear weapons is more likely to succeed than military threats?

Sittings of the House

Debate between Eilidh Whiteford and Joan Ruddock

Wednesday 11th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Dame Joan Ruddock]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

I echo the right hon. Lady’s remarks. Although I cannot return to my constituency in the evening, I still think this issue says something about our institutional culture and what we think is a normal working practice.

[Dame Joan Ruddock]

The hon. Lady might also feel that if she gets home a little earlier in the evening, perhaps she has more time to talk to her family.