26 October 1999: Minister Jackie Baillie Backs Scrapping Trident

A Minister in the Scottish Executive has admitted publicly to being in favour of scrapping Trident, it was confirmed last night as the Opposition SNP moved to exploit Government concern at the controversial judgement of a Greenock sheriff who ruled that Trident was illegal.

In the wake of Sheriff Gimblett’s ruling that the nuclear deterrent based on the Clyde contravened the law as viewed by the International Court, the Opposition SNP last night asked if ministerial collective responsibility in Scotland applied to reserved as well as devolved areas.

Ms Jackie Baillie, Deputy Minister for Communities, replied to a CND questionnaire posted on the Internet before the Scottish Parliament elections saying she supported the scrapping of Trident.

I suspect there is only one job Jackie Baillie is anxious to protect at the moment. Mrs Baillie has put on a bravura performance pretending to be concerned with employment while actually defending Scotland’s place as a humble cog in the US military industrial machine and her own interest in the pork-barrel arrangements which flow there from.

Trident is about the British taxpayer subsidizing the US defence industry and providing, gratis, an ICBM submarine squadron to the US Navy.

The pork-barrel part is that impoverished / Labour – dominated (same thing, really) areas like Mrs Baillie’s constituency (20% of households living in poverty) get very few relatively well- paid, ferociously subsidized defence jobs. (Highbeam)

Election after election the SNP has failed to take the seat, failing by just 169 votes in 2016/17. But Baillie is canny she plays her cards well by fully supporting the retention of Trident ensuring votes near to Faslane would be cast for her. She doesn’t give a toss for party policy wisely giving her all to supporting her husband’s GMB trades Union, their workers and families. She knows who butters her bread and she ranks as one of the most despicable politicians to park her behind on a well upholstered seat at Holyrood.