SNP faces pressure to confront pacifists and embrace defence industry

Times

2 days ago

John Swinney is facing pressure from within the SNP to confront his party's 'pacifists' and fully embrace the defence industry in Scotland.
The first minister is understood to have faced intensive lobbying, including from SNP Holyrood backbenchers, to relax a ban on using taxpayers' cash to support munitions projects.
The policy has led to damaging accusations of playing 'student politics' at a time of global turmoil, and there is a growing fear within sections of the SNP that continuing to defend the stance is becoming untenable.
Writing in The Sunday Times today, Ian Blackford, a party grandee and a Swinney loyalist, insists 'times have changed' and investment in defence would 'kick-start the delivery of an industrial future for Scotland'.
Meanwhile, Professor James Mitchell, one of the leading authorities on the SNP, warned that Swinney was at risk of repeating a historic mistake the party made in the 1970s, when hostility to defence projects was a factor in its defeat in a crucial by-election.
That result, in Glasgow Garscadden in 1978 after the SNP candidate demanded a local shipyard stop building warships, resurrected Donald Dewar's political career and halted a surge in momentum for Scottish nationalism.
ADS Scotland, which represents the defence sector, said it was engaged in an 'honest conversation' with the Scottish government about its policies.
These also include a ban on the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) investing in organisations 'primarily engaged in the manufacture of munitions or weapons' on 'ethical' grounds, despite the need for armaments for causes such as Ukraine's defence against Russia.
ADS urged the first minister to take new steps to make sure the defence industry operated in an environment of 'understanding and support' in Scotland.
Any 'political hostility' or 'reticence' to back it, the body said, was 'out of step with current challenges'.
The SNP's approach has come under major scrutiny since it emerged in May that a new state-of-the-art welding skills centre was at risk of being cancelled after a planned £2.5 million grant from Scottish Enterprise was axed because it was deemed a 'munitions' project.
SNP ministers later admitted this had been because it would be used to aid the building of Royal Navy attack submarines.
Swinney had previously insisted he would stick by the policy, with Mairi Gougeon, his cabinet minister, claiming it was based on SNP 'principles' and would not change.
However, the first minister this week opened the door to a U-turn, suggesting the policy may be 'reconsidered' in light of rising global threats.
Mitchell, professor of public policy at the University of Edinburgh, said there had 'always been a strong strain of pacifism and anti-militarism' within the SNP.
This dates back to the Second World War, he said, when leading figures in the then tiny party took differing positions over whether Scots should join the British war effort against the Nazis.
This hardened in the 1960s, due to an influx of Labour members upset at the party abandoning the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and Mitchell said the party had retained 'anti-military tendencies' ever since.
While not officially a pacifist party and having endorsed Nato membership following a tight vote in 2012, which led to the resignation of some MSPs, the leading academic said there remains 'a pacifist element to the membership'.
'The current international situation creates headaches for the SNP,' he said. 'It wants to support Nato but would it support the position of increasing defence spending to five per cent of GDP?
'The SNP has managed to avoid many difficult questions and adopt a high moral tone because it has not had to answer any difficult questions. But times have changed.
'As the international situation has become more fraught, the SNP faces a repeat of the challenges it faced half a century ago in Garscadden.
'Does it support or oppose defence spending that would provide or protect jobs, or does it oppose increased defence spending?'
Leading figures in the defence industry have called for the Scottish government to relax its ban, potentially relating to the definition of 'munitions' which would mean projects such as the welding centre would not fall foul of the ban.
Within days of The Times revealing that the project, which Rolls-Royce had committed to supporting with £11 million of equipment, was facing the axe, the UK government agreed to step in and provide the funding instead, in what was seen as a political victory for Labour.
Stewart McDonald, the former MP who was the SNP's defence spokesman at Westminster for six years, has also backed a rethink, saying it pains him to see that his party is 'not evolving with the serious times we live in'.
There is concern within the defence industry that the approach of the SNP, which has embraced slogans such as 'bairns not bombs', has served to tacitly endorse serious protests at headquarters of Scottish defence firms, which have put staff in danger.
A defence industry source said: 'Student politics are fine, but it's no way to either run a country or respond to global insecurity'
Significantly, Swinney is believed to have been told by several of his backbenchers that they would favour a move away from the munitions funding ban, with a feeling the party has been made to look weak and out of touch following repeated attacks from Holyrood's unionist parties.
The UK government's commitment to significantly boosting defence spending also has the potential to create thousands of well-paid jobs and boost the Scottish economy.
The defence sector north of the border has 16,250 employees, generated £3.3 billion in annual turnover and accounted for £1.3 billion in gross value added (GVA), a measure of its contribution to the overall economy.
'The industry has been engaging at senior level in the Scottish government regularly on all matters affecting aerospace, defence and security, and have been meeting pretty much weekly, so there is an honest conversation open,' an ADS spokeswoman said.
'Ultimately, if we are to properly protect the UK then the whole of the UK needs to be involved. If we are to properly mobilise to deter Russian aggression and be ready for potential turmoil in the wider world then it needs to be all hands on deck.
'And we do believe that Scotland and the Scottish government takes its own contribution seriously and will be a responsible domestic partner in UK security.'
She added: 'The incredible industry we have here is underappreciated — MSPs themselves admitted this at Holyrood recently.
'What's important is that we all have a role, including the first minister, in taking steps towards making the environment in which we all operate one of understanding and support.
'Any political hostility and/or reticence towards the defence industry feels out of step with current challenges, and indeed opportunities.
'And there is now a huge opportunity for Scotland, whether that's building satellites in Glasgow or ships on the Forth, which has the potential to provide a huge boost to the economy.'
A Scottish government spokesman said: 'We recognise the importance of the aerospace, defence and shipbuilding sectors for Scotland's economy. Together they provide high value jobs, support across the wider supply chain and make a valuable contribution to local, regional and national economies.'
But he added: 'Scottish ministers have been consistently clear on the Scottish government's long-standing policy position that it does not use public money to support the manufacture of munitions.'