GLASGOW, April 15 (RIA Novosti) – An independent Scotland would seriously weaken the United Kingdom’s global maritime strength, Britain’s most senior naval officer has warned.
“I believe that independence would fundamentally change maritime security for all of us in the United Kingdom and damage the very heart of the capabilities that are made up of the Royal Navy,” Admiral Zambellas said.
Admiral Sir George Zambellas claimed Britain’s Royal Navy was “respected around the world” and had a major responsibility for maintaining Western maritime security.
He added that the UK’s international standing would be undermined and Britain’s “strategic efficiency” deeply damaged if Scots back independence in a referendum to be held in September.
In a co-ordinated speech in Glasgow the UK’s Defence Minister Phillip Hammond confirmed Tuesday that the UK’s biggest fear over independence remains the potential loss of its nuclear deterrent.
He told a select audience that negotiations over the Trident nuclear submarine fleet, based at Faslane on the West Coast of Scotland, would be “long and protracted”.
“If [The Scottish Government] insist that Trident has to go, there would have to be complex talks about the costs and timescales involved.
Any notion that it would be quick and easy is just plain wrong,” Mr Hammond said.
The Scottish Government has insisted that an independent Scotland would demand the immediate removal of Trident from its territory following a yes vote in the referendum.
Currently there are no practical alternative bases anywhere in the UK that could accommodate Britain’s Trident submarine fleet.
