Salmond: No nukes in independent Scotland

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EDINBURGH, Scotland, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- An independent Scotland may consider legislation that would prohibit the use of nuclear weapons, the Scottish first minister said.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond early this year announced plans for a one-question referendum on independence from the United Kingdom in 2014. He told the BBC that if his ruling Scottish National Party retained its leadership position in an independent Scotland, he would ban nuclear weapons.

"If Scotland, by majority, doesn't want nuclear weapons, the SNP proposition is to write that into the constitutions of the state," he said. "So, that would make the possession of nuclear weapons illegal."

The British government has the Trident nuclear missile system deployed at its Faslane Naval Base in Scottish territory. London would have to either relocate that Trident or "they could use nuclear facilities in America or France," the minister said.

The SNP, he said, would rule an independent Scotland that favored joining NATO and would retain a membership in the European Union alongside London.