Global Security Newswire

NATO says Scotland would need to apply for membership in the 28-nation military alliance if it successfully secedes from the United Kingdom, the London Guardian reported on Thursday.

The governing Scottish National Party plans a referendum on independence next year, after which it hopes to remain in NATO even while pursuing its longtime goal of expelling the British ballistic missile submarines and nuclear-tipped Trident missiles now stationed within Scotland. Those armaments serve as the United Kingdom's contribution to the NATO strategic deterrent.

"It appears widely agreed that, as a matter of law, a Scotland which has declared its independence and thereby established its separate statehood would be viewed as a new state," according to a NATO official. "A new state would not be a party to the North Atlantic Treaty, and thus not a member of NATO. If it were to choose to apply for NATO membership, its application would be subject to the normal procedure, as outlined in article 10 of the treaty."

Former British Defense Secretary George Robertson was NATO secretary general when seven nations joined the alliance in 2002. All had to agree to the NATO posture that "as long as nuclear weapons exist, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance," the London Telegraph reported.

“Either the SNP accept the central nuclear role of NATO and show that they will shed any principle to buy votes for separatism, or they reject the nuclear role of NATO and ensure that a separate Scottish state stays out of the world's most successful defense alliance," Robertson said.