Meeting of the Parliament 18 June 2025
When the SNP is up to its neck in muck and bullets—although that might not be an appropriate term, given its attitude towards bullets—it sends for Kate Forbes, who has the capacity to dress up the most ludicrous policy positions with sweet reason. By George, she tried today, but she failed. Whatever way we look at the Scottish Government’s policy position on the issue, it is ridiculous. That is the only word—ridiculous.
Stewart McDonald, a former SNP MP who has done a bit of work to try to civilise the SNP’s attitude towards the defence of the realm, tweeted—or whatever it is now—on X this morning. He said:
“There’s a defence industry debate in”
the Scottish Parliament
“today. Having worked hard on defence policy for my party when an MP, it pains me to see we are not evolving with the serious times we live in.”
Stewart McDonald went on to say that he sees nothing in Murdo Fraser’s motion or in Daniel Johnson’s amendment that he cannot support. Then he said:
“We”—
I presume that he means the SNP—
“should be more ambitious in our support of Scotland’s domestic defence sector”.
He said that the SNP is
“treating ... national defence industries like a dirty secret”.
That is the reality of the position that Kate Forbes has been sent out to defend today, with nobody daring to sit beside her. It is an impossible and ridiculous policy. It is ideological nonsense. It is hostility to a sector that, in the Deputy First Minister’s words, is a strategic necessity, provides secure, high-quality jobs and drives innovation in STEM, which is what Scotland needs.