Meeting of the Parliament 05 March 2024
The cabinet secretary’s position is extremely confusing. Do we seriously think that NATO would allow a situation whereby a member would prevent it from using nuclear assets on its soil?
Many other key questions remain unanswered. The Scottish Government has said that it will have a review of defence and security and that its outcome will be in place “By independence day”. That is the very definition of saying that it will be all right on the night, and that is simply not good enough. It is not good enough that there are no details in the Scottish Government’s paper on the number of warships, the number of submarines, the number of fighter jets or the number of bombers. It gives us a rough estimate of needing 15,000 armed forces personnel, which it asserts as reasonable because it said that 10 years ago. The paper does not even use the terms “navy”, “army” or “air force”; it talks of “a maritime component”, “a land component” and “an air component”. What is wrong with calling them a navy, an army and air force? For that matter, what is wrong with the British armed forces that we already have?
It was quite apt that, before this debate, we heard a statement on Ferguson Marine. The Government’s paper acknowledges the importance of the defence sector and its 33,000 jobs. Leaving the UK would put those jobs at risk. The Scottish Government has struggled to procure two ferries on time and on budget—are we seriously meant to believe that the Scottish Government is going to procure us a naval fleet to match the Royal Navy?
The Government’s papers are a waste of time and money. They fail everyone in Scotland, no matter their constitutional viewpoint. The vast majority of people in Scotland want the Scottish Government to focus on the cost of living, the NHS and schools. Most people want the Government to give up the spin, to be honest, as Alexander Stewart said, and to do its job, rather than
“attempt to gaslight the Scottish public”,
as Shelter Scotland said this week.
“An independent Scotland’s place in the world” lets down even true believers in independence. It is not a serious piece of work, and it does not even attempt to answer the serious questions. The paper talks of
“cooperation on issues of defence and security”
with the rest of the United Kingdom as
“common sense”.
I agree. The SNP’s plans are the complete opposite of that, and they are not serious.
I move amendment S6M-12372.2, to leave out from “should” to end and insert:
“benefits from the defence, diplomatic and economic connections that it shares with the rest of the UK; highlights the massive amount of capacity building that would be required of an independent Scotland in areas such as defence and procurement, intelligence and cyber security, and diplomatic presence and expertise just to replicate the benefits that Scotland currently enjoys as part of the UK; encourages the Scottish and UK governments to work more closely together to ensure that Brand Scotland’s unique contributions and innovations are better sold across the world, and understands that, in an increasingly turbulent geopolitical situation, the interests and security of Scotland are significantly better served under the umbrella of its existing membership of NATO, as part of the UK, than by severing those connections and seeking to build them from scratch.”
15:27Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.