Humza Yousaf promised to rid an independent Scotland of nuclear weapons

Humza Yousaf promised the Scots that «what we won't see in these proposals is nuclear weapons on the Clyde.» Photo: ROYAL NAVY

The removal of nuclear weapons from Scottish soil will be enshrined in the constitution after independence, said First Minister Humza Yousaf.

The plan is contained in the latest SNP report. a plan to help the country deal with future challenges in the event of a dissolution of the union.

The nuclear pledge revives a call made nearly a decade ago by Mr Yousaf's predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon, who wondered why Scottish taxpayers were funding «the we are on the doorstep of one of the largest concentrations of nuclear weapons in Europe.”

“Our proposals will give the people in Scotland the opportunity to form a new independent country and create a permanent, modern, written constitution that describes the type of country that Scotland will be and how it will be governed,” said Mr Yusuf.

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“Successive UK governments have led Scotland in the wrong direction and with independence we will radically change power and put it back in the hands of the people who live in Scotland.

“What we will not see in these proposals is a nuclear weapon on the Clyde. This proposed constitution would ban nuclear weapons in an independent Scotland.»

The drafting of a new constitution is set out in a new policy document, 'Creating Nova Scotia'.

Previous documents are established. our evidence that independent countries comparable to Scotland are richer and fairer than Great Britain; how Scottish democracy can be renewed with independence; and macroeconomic framework, including monetary mechanisms, for an independent Scotland.

The commitment is contained in Humza Yusaf's SNP Future Plan. Credit: PA

Mr Yousaf said the Last Document will allow people in Scotland to shape a new country and «take on the challenges of the future».

The plan includes recognition of the NHS in Scotland, giving the right to access a health care system available free of charge when needed; strengthening the protection of human rights and equality, including the protection and realization of the right to an adequate standard of living, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and the right of workers to strike.

In 2014, Ms Sturgeon, then Deputy First Minister, said that incorporating a legal obligation to work towards nuclear disarmament in the Scottish constitution would create an obligation for Holyrood to seek nuclear Trident weapons from submarines.

In 2021, the Department of Defense canceled a 10-year-old disarmament plan, announcing a «ceiling» for UK nuclear stockpiles to increase from 225 to 260 due to «technological and doctrinal threats.»

In the same year, Nukewatch, which tracks the transport of nuclear weapons, said that the UK government had quietly increased the number of Trident nuclear missiles. warheads stored on the Clyde in the previous five years. An estimated 37 new warheads were delivered from England to Scotland between 2015 and 2020. Nine were added in 2019 and 13 in 2020.