SNP in munitions ban hypocrisy row over Ferguson Marine
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The UK Government has said it is prepared to provide the £2.5 million shortfall if Scottish Enterprise does not step in.
In Holyrood on Tuesday, Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie pointed out that the Scottish Government funds Ferguson Marine, which is subcontracted by BAE to work on Royal Navy frigates.
'There are munitions on the frigate. Why is that acceptable when funding Rolls-Royce in partnership with the Malin Group to establish a welding school is not? Is this a case of the SNP putting their party's interests before the interests of jobs, the economy and the best interests of Scotland?' she asked.
The MSP said the Scottish Government's position amounted to believing the military were very important, but that they should not have weapons.
'So what does the Government believe that the Army, the Navy and the Air Force should defend the country with? Pea shooters? Bows and arrows? A telling off?'
Welder doing some welding (Image: © Stewart Attwood Photography ) Dame Jackie asked if the Government would reconsider.
Enterprise Minister Richard Lochhead insisted the Scottish Government 'very much values' the defence sector and said enterprise agencies had allocated £45 million to defence companies since the SNP came to power.
But that there was a "policy that public money should not fund the manufacture of munitions.'
Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr said the position was not just 'incoherent', but 'grossly hypocritical, totally hypocritical.'
Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, supported the Government's stance, saying he was dismayed by the 'insulting and demeaning language' used by the Defence Secretary, who described the Scottish Government stance as 'student politics.'
Mr Harvie added: 'Isn't it all the more galling when those comments come from a government that's willing to see arms provided to a genocidal regime like Israel?'
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Pressed by Labour's Paul Sweeney, who warned the refusal had sent a 'toxic signal' to investors, Mr Lochhead said the Government's focus was on 'skills development and diversification' within the defence sector.
Willie Rennie of the Scottish Liberal Democrats challenged ministers on their defence vision for an independent Scotland.
'Where will we buy them from? Will we make them ourselves, and if it is not the taxpayer who is going to fund them? These are serious questions that highlight the inconsistency in the SNP approach. So will an independent Scotland have any munitions at all?'
Mr Lochhead said 'of course an independent Scotland would have conventional defence forces.'
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