Nato chiefs deal blow to SNP's anti-nuclear strategy

Alex Salmond warned independent Scotland would be prevented from joining defence group if there was row over bases

Senior Nato officials have warned Alex Salmond’s government that an independent Scotland would be barred from joining Nato if there were any disputes over the basing of nuclear weapons on the Clyde.

The Guardian can reveal that a small group of Scottish civil servants travelled to Nato HQ in Brussels last month to discuss Scotland’s options for joining the alliance if Salmond wins next year’s independence referendum. They argued that an independent Scotland should be given special treatment because it was already a significant part of an existing, founder member of Nato, the UK.

It is understood that Nato officials said it might be possible to allow Scotland to start fast-track talks – but in a blow to Salmond’s anti-nuclear strategy, the Scottish delegation was also told that no new member would be allowed to join Nato if that state had unresolved military or territorial disputes with other countries.

Under article 10 of the Nato treaty, one assistant general secretary of Nato said at the meeting on 6 July, new applicants also have to show a history of stable defence policies and structures as a minimum entry requirement. Article 10 also implies that every Nato member accepts the alliance’s nuclear first-strike policy.

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm

Official sources in Edinburgh and London confirm that these issues were seen as coded warnings that the Scottish government’s determination to close down the Trident nuclear submarine base at Faslane on the Clyde would be a major obstacle to Scotland’s application.

Lord Robertson, a former secretary general of Nato and a defence secretary in Tony Blair’s government, said Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria were expected to resolve disputes over Transylvania and crossings over the Danube before starting their Nato membership process.

“You’re not expected to import problems with your neighbours into Nato and that’s a very clear warning signal,” Robertson said. He said Faslane’s continued operations were integral to Nato’s strategic concept.

He said Salmond knew there was an unbridgeable contradiction between Salmond’s desire to join Nato and his pledge to remove nuclear weapons from Scotland. “He’s taking the Scottish people for fools by claiming that [the SNP] would want Scotland to be in Nato but laying down conditions that would make it impossible. It’s a confidence trick both on their membership and the Scottish people.”

Salmond has made closing Faslane a cornerstone of his independence campaign. In an appeal to leftwing voters, the first minister has promised to make that non-nuclear policy legally binding in a new written constitution after independence.

But becoming a full member of Nato is regarded as an essential part of Salmond’s plans to persuade sceptical middle-ground voters that an independent Scotland would still remain part of mainstream and powerful international institutions.

The threat to close Faslane is one of the biggest obstacles facing a deal between the Scottish and UK governments over independence, because of its strategic significance and the immense cost of relocating the Trident fleet and its warheads to a new base …read more