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I believe Gary will tread a very well thought out path into improving and sustaining economic growth in Argyll, unlike his SNP opponent who, it appears, will be left running, unseen, on the spot!

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But firstly let me record my firmly held opinion that numbers of jobs provided does not automatically provide justification for all or any enterprise.
So that should be first station on any argument on this subject.

I’m sure there were lots of people employed at Dachau and Auchwitz and indeed running brothels may provide paid employment for lots of young women but if we are to provide jobs, and particuarly if public monies are to provide jobs, I would like to think I could stand up and support those jobs in moral terms.
I cannot do so with nuclear weapons.
Neither can any of Scotland’s Churches and I would record my gratitude for the late Lord George McLeod who articulated expertly the moral arguement that insists that, regardlerss of preceding circumstance, it is never morally acceptable to use a nuclear weapon. It is a concept woven into our law that no matter the provocation violent retaliation is always wrong. The use of nuclear weapons guarantees the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent persons and cannot ever be justified.
A first strike is absolutely wrong.
And if we were hit by nuclear attack what would be the point of firing back? Revenge?

But it’s a deterrent I hear some of you say. With India, Pakistan, Israel all with nuclear weapons and Iran and Korea trying to do the same it’s some bloody deterrent. It’s in fact an encouragment to get their own to these and others that we’ve got nuclear weapons. It’s not a deterrent. That’s why those we try to threaten want to get them.
The peculiar notion that it’s a deterrent defies logic and all observation. If the guy next door has a big stick to threaten you you throw your stick away? Don’t be silly. If you can manage it you get bigger stick.

The ex-soldier I was talking to insisted that we had the weapons to dissuade any person or power from attacking us. He couldn’t think of any likely to do so, however, when pressed.
He then suggested some rogue state with an insane leader might attack us with nuclear weapon. I pointed out that such a person with a capability to reach us with nuclear weapon does not presently exist and if one such insane person was to rise to power his insanity would probably render any deterrent meaningless anyway. Only a madman presses the nuclear power button and there is no deterrent known which is effective against lunacy.

Why would anybody attack wee, peaceful Scotland anyway? I asked him.
No answer.
Could it perhaps be only because we have nuclear base?
Never thought of it that way, he conceded.

I can underline the facts provided by a Parliamentary question and made availble by Ken MacColl above. And it should be noted that of the fairly small number of person actually employed in Scotland as a result of the Trident base a fairly large percentage of them are not even of local recruitment so the actual numbers are substantially lower.
A much more significant issue is the incidence of various cancers associated with the nuclear element of this base, the regular spills of radioactive a waste into the Clyde and the depressed value of property in the area.
The money wasted and about to be wasted on nuclear weapons could provide Scotland with a well equipped modern defence force and still leave money over to provide thousands of real jobs and services in our economy.

I think Mr Mulvaney would be well advised to properly survey the voters in that area. He will find substantial and probably majority opposition to the Faslane nuclear submarine enterprise even in his home area and a huge majority of the electorate in the rest of Argyll and Bute very opposed. His chance of beating the LibDems and getting into second place will be sunk if he continues on this tack.
But then again, why should I care?

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If you are going to champion a cause, lying or misinforming is never the way to go, as you will always be found out. Claiming 10,000 jobs would be affected when Mr Hoon has already informed parliament that the number is nearer 1300 is just plain stupid, he not even in the ball park on his numbers. Not what one is looking for in their MP.

Nuclear weapons have shown themselves to be completely useless as a deterrent to the threats and scale of violence we currently face or are likely to face. We have millions that need get to get back to work, homeless still living on our streets and still we cannot guarantee every child leaving school a place at university. I cannot envisage a situation where we would use Trident but I have listed many causes above that desperately need the £20 billion plus the billions needed each year to maintain it. We get no financial return on Trident whatsoever. Invest in the children and create future tax payers and good citizens, it’s not socialism, it’s a no brainer. Remember it was the SNP that dropped University fees in Scotland.

If you pop across and read Mike’s interview where he has majored on the fact that Argyll’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is a whacking 25% lower than the Scottish average, itself below that of the UK shows clearly he understands the problems facing Argyll. We do indeed have a Munro to climb.

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Angus Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate how many a) direct and b) indirect civilian jobs in 1) Scotland and 2) the rest of the UK rely upon the Trident programme. [9214416]

Mr Hoon : The number of civilian jobs which directly rely upon the Trident programme is estimated to be 936 in Scotland with an additional 6,640 in the rest of the United Kingdom. The number of civilian jobs which indirectly rely upon the Trident programme is estimated to be 300 in Scotland and 5,700 for the rest of the UK.

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