Keir Starmer attacks ‘staggering' SNP move to block £11m investment

Times

2 days ago

Sir Keir Starmer has accused the SNP of choking off opportunities for young Scots by banning taxpayer support for munitions projects.
The prime minister claimed it was 'staggering' that the nationalist government was 'blocking' an £11 million private investment from Rolls-Royce in the creation of a specialist welding centre on the basis that it could be used to support the building of Royal Navy submarines.
John Swinney, the first minister, rejected accusations on Wednesday that he was indulging in 'student union' politics and insisted that the 'longstanding' position of the SNP — which is not to use public money to support the creation of weapons — would not change.
It emerged at the weekend that a plan to create a state-of-the-art welding skills centre, part of a wider project aimed at reviving Scottish shipbuilding, faced being cancelled after Scottish Enterprise refused to provide a £2.5 million grant, branding the centre a 'munitions' project.
The UK government said it would provide the funding instead, with Labour claiming the SNP's 'ill-informed dogma' was costing young people and the Scottish economy.
At prime minister's questions, Starmer accused the SNP of 'blocking opportunities' for young people while also attacking cuts to college budgets in Scotland. An independent report last year found that real-terms funding for the sector had been cut by 17 per cent since 2021.
'At a time of global conflict, it is staggering that the SNP policy is to block an £11 million investment for a new national welding centre on the Clyde,' Starmer said. 'I was there earlier this week. I saw the huge potential for apprenticeships, for job opportunities and for young people. I support it, they block it.
'Despite the highest funding settlement in the history of devolution, they're cutting college budgets, they're blocking opportunities, they have no plan for Scotland's future.'
SNP ministers have said their agencies have a longstanding policy that public money should not support 'the manufacture of munitions'. They have argued that the welding skills centre is ineligible for funding due to links with an attack submarine programme. However, the Scottish government-owned shipyard, Ferguson Marine, has taken on work supporting the construction of Royal Navy frigates.
Meanwhile, Swinney has also faced criticism for turning down a briefing with the UK government about the defence review and instead going campaigning for the SNP in the Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse by-election.
'We have a longstanding policy that we don't use public expenditure to support the manufacture of munitions, and that's been a policy position that has been well set out and well understood within parliament for many years,' Swinney said.
'As would be expected, it's been applied in this case in the proper fashion. We do not support the use of public expenditure to support the manufacture of munitions. It's a very clear and a distinctive position.'
However, Stephen Kerr, a Scottish Tory MSP, claimed that the position could not be reconciled with the SNP 's claim to support the defence industry and causes such as providing more backing to Ukraine.
'This is not a serious policy,' Kerr said. 'It is posturing, bound up in the pacifistic ideology that requires ignoring the hard realities of an increasingly dangerous world.'
Meanwhile, Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said Swinney's position on the issue was 'stupid and dangerous'.
He told journalists: 'I think you should ask John Swinney, quite clearly, whether he wants to live in the real world or if he thinks he's a university student in the debating chamber.
'If he says there's no public money going towards munitions, are we going to Uber the missiles in? Are we going to Deliveroo the equipment if someone tries to attack us?
'It is completely and utterly incoherent, frankly stupid and dangerous, and it demonstrates why he's not fit to lead our country.'