Keir Starmer right to express 'total' commitment to nuclear weapons in a world with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump – Scotsman comment

During the Cold War, anti-nuclear campaigners could make a coherent case for disarmament. If the UK had given up its missiles then, the delicate balance of deterrence between the two great super-powers, the US and the Soviet Union, would probably not have been disrupted. Britain might also have stopped being a target for Soviet nuclear attack. These pragmatic points gave added weight to purely moral arguments.

Today many people, particularly in Scotland, remain steadfastly opposed to these weapons because the idea that we might ever actually use them is so utterly appalling. This could be a political problem for Labour, but party leader Keir Starmer has now spelled out his determination to keep them in no uncertain terms. “… our nation's defence must always come first. Labour's commitment to our nuclear deterrent is total,” he said. “In the face of rising global threats and growing Russian aggression, the UK's nuclear deterrent is the bedrock of Labour's plan to keep Britain safe.”

American isolationism

Those who are morally opposed to nuclear weapons will reject this. However, those who take a more pragmatic approach should recognise that some of the old Cold War arguments in favour of disarmament no longer hold.

Get our weekly opinion newsletter for expert analysis from The Scotsman’s team of columnists

Given the hot war in Ukraine and the real threat to Nato countries like the Baltic states, the danger posed by Vladimir Putin is perhaps even greater than that during the Soviet era. Another major change is America’s growing isolationism. John Bolton, Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor, has warned that, if re-elected, Trump could withdraw the US from Nato.

This would leave the UK and France as the alliance’s only nuclear powers to deter Putin from either firing nuclear missiles or using them as a cover to make conventional military conquests – playing a dangerous game of threatening Armageddon if resistance proves too strong. Nuclear weapons are horrific but if Europe is to be defended against this bloodthirsty megalomaniac, they are absolutely vital.