Dave Thompson MSP

Dave Thompson, SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch has described the latest £167billion estimate being reported for Trident replacement as “Totally unacceptable”.

This effectively means that Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch and other constituencies will each be paying far in excess of £150million towards Trident replacement for the next 25 years.

Mr Thompson said, “Aside from the morally indefensible case for trident renewal, it is totally unacceptable that Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch residents will be out to the tune of £150m over the next 25 years for trident replacement. There must be a better way to spend this money, for example, how many affordable homes could be constructed in the constituency every year?

“We are part of a system right now that is attacking the poorest in our society, where folk are being forced to suffer cuts in the name of austerity. Meanwhile, there is no glass ceiling on how much the UK Government will commit to the obscenity of nuclear weapons.

“Tax credits top-up the pay of the lowest-earning workers in the UK but the Tories intend to bleed them dry with the poorest families losing around £1,000 a year, if the expected changes to working tax credits go ahead.

“We should be focusing on helping the lives of people not paying obscene amounts of money to potentially take the lives of people”.