WHO KNEW WHAT ABOUT MISSILE TEST FAILURE?
SNP Defence spokesperson Brendan O'Hara MP has said the UK government has 'deeply serious' questions to answer over reports in the press about a Trident test launch malfunction and the apparent subsequent cover up.
The Sunday Times has reported that a missile launch malfunction occurred off the coast of the United States, just before the House of Commons voted last July to renew the Trident system and that there was a Whitehall cover up.
Westminster voted to renew the £208,000 million weapons of mass destruction programme without knowing anything about this reported cover up, despite 58 of Scotland's 59 MPs voting against renewal.
Mr O'Hara said:
''There are some deeply serious questions here. If these reports are true we urgently need to know exactly what happened and who knew what and when they knew. The Tory Government must come clean. If there has been a cover up of any kind that would be totally unacceptable.
“Trident is obscenely expensive and morally repugnant. If it turns out the UK government hid these safety concerns just before Westminster voted to renew, that would be both shameful and a betrayal.”
Added Kenneth Gibson:
“Along with moral and cost objections to Trident, if we now have to add the real possibility it is unreliable and unsafe then there must be massive question marks about its deployment.
“The SNP will be asking the UK Tory Government to explain itself and we want answers in full and quickly. The people of Scotland have a right to know what went wrong, why it went wrong and the implications for deploying such a dangerous weapon on our doorstep.”
ENDS
Comments