Checks on arms firms appear to be just a cosmetic formality

The National

2 hours ago

THE Scottish Government has come under criticism in recent months for the continuing financial support it provides to companies involved in the arms trade, some of whom continue to supply Israel with military equipment, even as it publicly condemns the Israeli government for the genocide unfolding in Gaza.
The Scottish Government insists that no public money is spent on the manufacture of munitions and that all companies which the Scottish Government supports via grants from Scottish Enterprise are subject to a human rights due diligence check. However, no company has ever failed one of these checks, calling into question whether the checks are anything more than a cosmetic formality without any real-world consequences.
It now transpires that some companies with an important role in supplying military equipment to Israel have not been subject to a due diligence check in more than six years. A Freedom of Information request has revealed that two major arms companies in receipt of Scottish Enterprise grants – Italian arms giant Leonardo and American multinational Raytheon Systems – have not received a human right due diligence check since October 2019.
Both firms have been in receipt of Scottish public money – Leonardo received £786,125 in 2023 while Raytheon Systems, which has a factory in Glenrothes, was given £500k in the first half of 2024.
Leonardo produces laser targeting systems for Lockheed Martin, which sells the F-35 jets used by Israel, and Raytheon makes Paveway II guided missiles which are also used by Israel. Both these firms were given public money after the brutal reality of Israel's so-called 'right to defend itself' had become apparent and the genocidal nature of Israel's repeated killing of civilians was well established.
Both companies have continued to supply Israel with weapons throughout Israel's assault on Gaza which began in October 2023 in the wake of the Hamas attack on southern Israel. Israel's war on Gaza has now gone way beyond anything which could be described as self-defence and the Israeli government's prime minister now speaks openly of its goal to occupy and ethnically cleanse the territory.
The civilian infrastructure of Gaza has now been destroyed and the traumatised and starved population are being herded into small overcrowded and insanitary tent encampments in what it pleases Israel to call "humanitarian zones" from which they will not be permitted to leave except into permanent exile in as yet unknown third countries.
Israel claims that the Palestinians will be encouraged to leave "voluntarily" but when you incentivise people to leave by starving them, destroying their homes and all medical educational and sewage disposal infrastructure, shooting people dead as a routine method of crowd control at the pathetically inadequate aid distribution points which are the sole source of food and water for people who have already been displaced multiple times, there is nothing voluntary about it.
In response to the revelations uncovered by the Freedom of Information Request, human rights charity Amnesty International told The National that the 'more we learn' about the checks 'the more concerning it becomes' that Scottish Enterprise and Scottish ministers are defending the process.
A spokesperson for the organisation said: "Amnesty is aware from our own research that payments were made to companies known to supply Israel without a new check being triggered by the unfolding genocide in Gaza.
'Alarmingly, that is the process Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government attempted to characterise as robust and well aligned to international standards. The recent in-house review of the human rights checks recommended some improvements, but unsurprisingly they don't go far enough. We will be meeting with Scottish Enterprise in the coming weeks to take these concerns forward."
Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater condemned the lack of effective checks, saying it 'flies in the face of any kind of due diligence'.
She added: "These are some of the biggest arms companies in the world. They have armed human rights abusers and dictatorships and some have directly enabled and profited from the genocide in Gaza.
"They should not be receiving public money in the first place, and the Scottish Government absolutely should not be setting up tests to win favourable headlines while refusing to actually implement them.
"How can we trust a word they say on ensuring they are applying human rights standards when they are refusing to even ask the right questions of those they are giving public money to?"
Serious nuclear incident on Scottish base
Following reports last week that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had attempted to cover up decades long leaks of water contaminated with radioactive waste and that the leaks had continued despite claims in 2020 by the MoD that it was taking steps to remedy the situation, we now learn that even more serious safety breaches occurred this year.
A serious nuclear incident took place at the Faslane naval base earlier this year. Nuclear Site Event Reports (NSERs) are graded on a scale from Category A through D with A being the most serious category, defined as being one which carries an "actual or high potential for radioactive release to the environment".
Figures released show there was a Category A event at Faslane in the period between January 1 and April 22 this year. The MoD has refused to release further details about the event, all the MoD is willing to release is radioactive waste into the Scottish environment. As a result of this refusal we do not know whether there was a radioactive release into the environment or only the high risk of one having happened. Putting the minds of the Scottish public at ease has never been a concern for the MoD.
Another category A incident also took place in Faslane in 2023. In total there were five Category B, 29 Category C and 71 Category D incidents at Faslane between April 22, 2024 and the same date this year.
The MoD has been responsible for repeated leaks of radioactive material into the Clyde. These leaks have been going on for decades and the MoD repeatedly attempts to cover up its culture of negligence. The leaks which have been made public are merely those which the MoD has been forced to admit to. We can only speculate about what the MoD is continuing to cover up.