Church of Scotland Welcomes Call to Rethink UK Nuclear Deterrent

EDINBURGH (Sputnik), Mark Hirst – The Church of Scotland has welcomed a letter sent by the Bishops of the Church of England to their members urging them to reconsider the future renewal of Britain's key nuclear weapons system, Trident.

Scotland hosts four submarines armed with nuclear-capable Trident missiles. The majority of Scottish pro-independence movements, including the ruling Scottish National Party, are against the presence of nuclear-capable submarines in Scotland.

UK authorities estimate that replacing the program would cost over $30 billion. The final decision on its replacement is expected in 2016, after the next general election.

The Church of Scotland opposes the proliferation of nuclear weapons on Scottish soil as "inherently evil."

"The Church of Scotland welcomes the [Church of England's] letter and hopes others would see it as a constructive contribution to political debate," Nick Jury, an official spokesman for the Church of Scotland, told Sputnik on Thursday.

In the letter to its congregation, published earlier this month and titled "Who is my neighbor," the Bishops of the Church of England called for a review of the UK's nuclear deterrent program.

"Shifts in global strategic realities mean that the traditional arguments for nuclear deterrence need re-examining," the bishops wrote.

Peter Burt, director of the Nuclear Information Service, a UK non-profit organization, told Sputnik that seeing the Church throwing support behind a review is "exciting."

The Catholic Church declined to comment on the Bishops' letter, but in 2014 Pope Francis published a strongly worded statement voicing opposition to nuclear weapons.

Neither of the two main UK political parties, Labour and the Conservatives – who both back Trident renewal – would respond to questions from Sputnik. On Wednesday, Conservative member of parliament Conor Burns told the BBC the letter was "naive."

Mark Hackett, chairman of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities representative body also welcomed the Church of England's position on Trident.

"The replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons program is one of the most important decisions that will be made by the next Government and the next Parliament. This ought to be one of the key issues of the forthcoming general election," Hackett told Sputnik.

Voters in the UK go to the polls on May 7, in what opinion polls suggest may prove to be one of the tightest fought election campaign in years.