Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (Scottish CND) is the Scottish representative body of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). The Scottish CND campaigns for the abolition of British nuclear weapons to contribute to the global elimination of all nuclear weapons.

The organisation was founded in 1958, at the same time that the CND was founded, and was one of the core aspects of a CND revival during the 1970s.

On 17 November 2012, as part of a long history of supporting the Scottish independence movement, Scottish CND's Annual Conference passed a resolution, stating:

Conference urges all members to give priority to the campaign for a 'YES vote' in the 2014 Independence Referendum which will give the Scottish Government a mandate to negotiate a written constitution with a clause on No Nuclear Weapons in Scotland. Conference resolves that SCND affiliates to and promotes the “Yes” Campaign as the most immediate and effective way of getting rid of Trident.

During May 2014, the Electoral Commission registered the organisation as a campaigning participant for a "Yes" vote in the September 2014 independence referendum and Chair Arthur West said that the registration process was a display of transparency regarding the CND's involvement with the campaign, further explaining: "This decision was taken because our purpose as an organisation is to promote nuclear disarmament and we believe that independence offers the best opportunity for this."

The Scottish CND's office is in the city of Glasgow, and is the base for protest organising for cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Faslane. As of June 2014, the Chair of the organisation is West, while the Co-ordinator is John Ainslie and the Assistant Co-ordinator is Flavia Tudoreanu.

The organisation has released numerous written resources to support its cause, including an April 2014 leaflet and poster, entitled "No Nuclear Weapons Here". The front of the leaflet reads "Scotland no place for nuclear weapons" underneath the title, while the back of the leaflet explains the situation in the UK, stating "Nuclear disarmament begins at home". The Scottish CND also provides people with the option to order free anti-nuclear stickers that are written in English, Scots and Gaelic languages.

The Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde lies on the eastern coast of Scotland, 40 km (25 mi) west of Glasgow in the Faslane area. A nuclear submarine fleet is based at the site, facilitated by Prime Minister Clement Attlee's authorisation of a British nuclear weapons programme in 1947. A 1958 agreement between the UK and the United States (US) was followed by a 1962 US agreement, whereby it provided information about its submarine-launched missile system, "Polaris". The UK's first Polaris submarine, HMS Resolution, was launched in 1968 and the entire system was modified in the early 1970s to the British "Chevaline" system.

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