Keir Starmer's military expansion could boost Scottish economy

Daily Record

4 hours ago

Keir Starmer's decision to embark upon a major military expansion could pay dividends for Scotland's economy.
We already have a significant base to build from given existing ship building at BAE Systems on the River Clyde and Babcock Rosyth in Fife.
The nuclear submarine fleet is, of course, based at Faslane and we have a major RAF base at Lossiemouth.
Major weapons firms are already also based in Scotland with Leonardo in Edinburgh, Raytheon in Glenrothes and Livingston, and Thales in Govan.
It is easy to see therefor the huge financial boost that could come our way from the UK Government ramping up military spending from around £65billion at the moment to £100billion as Nato would like.
The reason for rearming is that the world appears to be an increasingly dangerous place with the main perceived threats coming from Russia and ultimately China as it establishes itself as a new global super power.
To add to this, our traditional close ally the US appears to be anything but with the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House.
Fiona Hill, an author of the strategic defence review and a former White House chief Russia adviser, believes Putin is already 'at war' with the UK. She pointed to poisonings, ­assassinations, sabotage operations, cyber-attacks, influence operations and efforts to cut subsea cables on UK soil as evidence of ongoing attacks.
Hill, who produced the SDR along with Lord Robertson, a former Nato secretary general, and retired general Sir Richard Barrons, further asserts that the UK and Europe can no longer depend on America for support given Trump's unpredictable nature.
These are valid points and Britain must be ready and able to defend itself. However, there is also an ­argument that all this talk of impending war runs the risk of become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Then there is the opportunity cost to spending billions of taxpayer cash on weapons that could go to the NHS and schools. War has provided a useful political crutch for many PMs.
But diplomacy and building bridges with the international community – albeit from a position of strength – is a much better path to prosperity.