SUGGESTIONS THAT 8,000 jobs at Faslane would be at risk in the event of independence have been dismissed as scaremongering.
The UK Government said moving nuclear weapons from the Clyde, a key SNP policy in the event of a Yes vote, would take many years and cost billions of pounds and thousands of jobs at the naval base.
In a response to a Scottish affairs committee report on the issue, the UK Government said: “Any alternative solution would come at huge cost. It would be an enormous exercise to reproduce the facilities elsewhere.”
SNP defence spokesman Angus Robertson said the claims have been discredited by Westminster itself.
He said a freedom of information request showed 520 jobs were directly dependent on the Trident fleet based on the Clyde and pointed to a report by the Scottish Trade Unions Council, which claimed renewing Trident would cost Scotland jobs.
Mr Robertson added: “The reality is that Trident is a jobs destroyer.
“The STUC have themselves noted that the huge financial outlay in renewing Trident will actually cost Scotland jobs rather than safeguard them with vital resources diverted from elsewhere in the economy.
“Faslane has a bright future in an independent Scotland as the home of Scotland’s conventional naval force and the SNP will continue to make this positive case.
“Trident is not wanted by either Scotland’s Parliament or Scotland’s people if they want to fight a positive campaign this year, perhaps the anti-independence parties could begin by acknowledging this.”