| Summary/Abstract |
The decision to replace, like-for-like, the United Kingdom’s fleet of nuclear-armed submarines carrying Trident ballistic missiles was taken in March 2007 – before the financial crisis and the rise to power in Scotland of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Neither event was anticipated then. The recession and budgetary constraints that followed the banking collapses of 2008 had little effect on the project in its preparatory phase, when spending was modest. But the announcement of a referendum on Scotland’s independence, to be held in September 2014, threw a spanner into the works. The SNP pledged to evict nuclear submarines from their bases in the Clyde when Scotland attained the legal rights and powers of a sovereign state. Since there appeared to be no plausible alternative bases in England and Wales, a ‘yes’ vote in the referendum might have ended the UK’s long engagement with nuclear weapons.
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