The Sunday Express reports that the Ministry of Defence has undertaken "no forward planning" on what would happen to the Trident nuclear weapons system in the event of a vote for Scottish independence.
Trident nuclear submarines are based at Faslane in Scotland, with the UK's nuclear warheads stored nearby at the Coulport arms depot. However, public and political opinion in Scotland is bitterly opposed to Trident, and a future Scottish Nationalist Party government would almost certainly insist on the removal of nuclear weapons from the new nation.
This would pose a major headache for the Ministry of Defence, since the costs and logistical difficulties of building a new base for the Trident submarines would be enormous. The Ministry of Defence is said to have rated independence for Scotland as the number one risk challenging its nuclear weapons programme.
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