Ian Blackford calls on SNP to support defence industry

The Herald Scotland

a day ago

At this week's NATO summit, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer committed to raising defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035.
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Mr Blackford said this was a "seismic shift" and would have "massive implications for the budgets of every government department over the next decade."
"Though in these islands we have excellence in many aspects of our armed forces, to a large extent our military capability has been hollowed out," he wrote. "The need to enhance defence capability and at pace is stark.
"There is now a race to invest and if we take last year's defence spending of £53.9 billion as our base, we are going to have to find by 2035 an extra £60 billion plus a year to invest in defence.
"Where is this to come from?"
The former MP said 'difficult choices' would need to be made. He argued that defence funding should not be seen as a moral compromise, but as an economic lever.
"Austerity will be a price to be paid as a consequence of having to invest in our national security.
"Investment in defence, though, can be a lever and transformative in itself in generating economic growth."
He noted that the industry already supports 33,500 workers in Scotland and contributes £3.2 billion in gross value.
"We all want a high-growth, high-wage, high-productivity Scotland—a society that drives investment in skills and innovation."
The SNP has long opposed public money being spent on munitions. The Scottish National Investment Bank's ethical investment policy currently bars organisations 'primarily engaged in the manufacture of munitions or weapons' from receiving support.
Ian Blackford calling on the SNP to embrace the defence sector (Image: PA) Recently, a new welding centre—backed by Rolls-Royce and intended to support Royal Navy submarine construction—was denied funding by Scottish Enterprise.
The UK Government has since stepped in to fund the initiative.
The SNP has faced accusations of hypocrisy, as the Scottish Government funds Ferguson Marine, which is subcontracted by BAE to work on Royal Navy frigates.
Mr Blackford's intervention comes as John Swinney faces mounting internal and external pressure to reconsider his government's position.
Recently, the First Minister suggested the policy could be "reconsidered" given the growing threat from Russia.
Speaking on the Holyrood Sources podcast, he said: "I'm conscious we are living in a very different context today. I do think the Russian threat is very real. We have to consider these questions."
He added he had no objections if a company wished to set up a munitions factory in Scotland.
The First Minister added: "We do not use public money to support the manufacture of munitions but will support skills and defence companies."
Speaking to Scotland on Sunday, Stewart McDonald, the SNP's former defence spokesperson at Westminster, said it was time for the party to look again at the policy.
"It hasn't had a proper defence debate since 2012, when we changed the policy on NATO," he said.
"All of this is moving at such pace. The entire international picture is moving at a rapid pace and if we are a party that seeks to be an independent state—and an independent state in NATO and the EU—then we should have stuff to say on this."
Mr McDonald warned: "There is a risk the party falls behind in that debate."
He said: "That's a debate going on in capitals across Europe. And although Edinburgh is not a state capital, the Scottish Government has a role to play as a domestic partner.
"We have an industry in Scotland worth many billions of pounds, employing somewhere between 33,000 and 35,000 people, and it has a very awkward relationship with the Scottish Government—it has done so for a long time."
He suggested Mr Swinney should gather major and smaller defence employers in Scotland, invite the defence procurement minister from London, and ask: "How do I marshal the resources of the government—spending, policy, legislative—to better support this?"
"I understand there's a bit of political balancing to be done here, but I think that can be over-thought and over-egged," he added. "We do live in much more dangerous times and there's a risk we are just saying the same stuff we've been saying for a long time—and that just would not be credible to stand still politically as the entire world changes around you."
Mr McDonald branded the Scottish Enterprise ban on munitions-related investment "a stupid policy" and criticised restrictions at the Scottish National Investment Bank.
Meanwhile, in the Sunday Mail, Labour's Scottish Secretary, Ian Murray, called on the SNP to reverse its opposition to nuclear weapons entirely.
"Any responsible government has to make sure they put their national security and the safety of their own people first.
"Scots only have to turn on their TVs and pick up their newspapers to read about the fact that there is a changing global instability.
"I do think the Scottish Government should readdress it."
Previously, Mr Murray described himself as a 'lifelong unilateralist' and was one of 2000 parliamentarians to have signed the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) pledge, which obliges signatories to work for their respective nations to sign up to a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons through the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
He added: "My views on nuclear weapons changed some time ago but they have been underlined and emphasised by the fact that the issue of nuclear weapons and deterrence has become a huge global stability issue.
"For the Scottish Government to tell Rolls-Royce, one of the most respected British institutions, that they will not contribute to them investing in a highly skilled welding academy in Glasgow tells the public that they do not care about jobs, growth and opportunities for the future.
"That is a huge part of the defence dividend we should be trying to capture. Places like Babcock and BAE Systems are hiring foreign welders from the Philippines and South Africa to do the work local people should be doing."
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However, SNP defence spokesperson Dave Doogan told the paper that the party remained 'resolute' in its opposition to nuclear weapons.
"We believe we're firmly in step with the vast majority of civil society in Scotland on that point.
"Ian Murray, consistent with many other issues, is not in step with the majority of civil society in Scotland.
"I've spoken to armed forces professionals who deal with the nuclear deterrent and nobody talks about it in the triumphant way in which Westminster politicians of the two main parties do."
Any change in the Scottish Government's policy would likely be met with opposition from the Scottish Greens.