Submitted by martin on 18 June, 2012 - 2:57
Scottish National Party leaders have signalled that they intend to drop the SNP's longstanding opposition to NATO membership, and may be willing to negotiate a very long timescale for the removal of Trident nuclear weapons from Scotland.
The signals are reported in a lengthy article in the Financial Times (18 June).
The SNP has in recent decades presented itself as a leftish party, but is shifting as it sees Scottish independence becoming more feasible. SNP leaders may well think, and plausibly, that they have scope to do that because of the absence or weakness of attempts by Labour to challenge the SNP from the left.
Contradictory signals
Bruce Crawford, SNP Secretary for Scottish Government Strategy, told the Herald, 18 June: "We are firmly committed to the earliest possible withdrawal of Trident from Scotland".