02-06-2025
I welcome defence support, but watch out for Unionist claims
The SNP has consistently called for more investment in our conventional forces and for them to be reorganised more appropriately for the modern threats we face. We have been unequivocal in support for our troops and for them to be properly supported in both pay, equipment and conditions.
Our defence sector plays a key role in Scotland's economy and we are steadfast in our commitment to joining Nato as an independent country. We support increased defence spending and in that respect, Scotland's outlook is international. We have a part to play and we will never be inhibited by any dogma that would prevent us bolstering the security of these islands and our friends across Europe.
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Now, Sir Keir Starmer is right about one thing – the world has changed and our response must match the scale of that change. And it is that truth that makes it all the more frustrating to read Scottish Labour politicians celebrating the Strategic Defence Review as if it is something us Scots should be thankful to Westminster for. These are our armed forces as much as they are any government's in London and they are not something to be used as a political boast.
But let's get this absolutely right. For decades Scottish regiments have been systemically hollowed out by Westminster with conventional forces decimated under successive Tory and Labour governments, and personnel left without the equipment, pay and support they deserve. Westminster politicians have a shameful history of breaking their promises and imposing cuts to Scotland's armed forces rather than the investment they need.
Gurkhas with members of the Gordon Highlanders storming the Dargai Heights in 1897 during The Tirah CampaignTake the Gordon Highlanders, the men that Churchill described as 'the finest regiment in the world'. Part of the 51st Highland Division, they stayed behind in France after the evacuations of Dunkirk. Well, the Gordon Highlanders were ended in 1994 by the Tories. And what of the Black Watch? The famous regiment, that formed part of that same brave 51st Highland Division of St Valery-en-Caux, were lumped in with other Scottish regiments in a cost-cutting exercise and were saved only at the personal intervention of the late Queen.
Fast forward to 2014 and Westminster promised 13 new Type 26 frigates would be built in Scotland, with contracts to be signed in the event of a No vote. After the vote, the number of Type 26 frigates was downgraded to eight. The same old Westminster story when it comes to Scotland and defence.
So while welcome, the Strategic Defence Review is not a green light for Unionist myth building around their support for Scotland's armed forces. We will take no lectures from Scottish Labour politicians who sat idly by as every false promise was made or as every regiment was allowed to fall. The SNP will always put Scotland's interests first and that is firmly extended to our armed forces and our defence sector.
But most importantly what the media discussion on the Strategic Defence Review utterly lacked was any fuller perspective on the UK's realistic position in the international arena. Brexit has left us isolated globally and we've felt that most acutely on defence. That was put into stark focus when, to put it bluntly, the EU penned an €800bn defence agreement and the UK wasn't even in the room.
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While Donald Trump's US has become an increasingly unreliable ally, it's blindingly obvious that our security and prosperity lies in forging a closer bind with Europe. That's what the SNP has consistently called for.
Yet instead, in fear of Farage, Sir Keir Starmer has kept Broken, Brexit Britain alone in the corner, hoping to bargain small fry agreements with the EU from the outside. A near impossible position.
We will never shy away from our role in enhancing our national security, supporting our European allies and welcoming the role the defence sector plays in our economy. In that context, what we need now is urgent clarity over exactly when Scotland's armed forces will get the investment they need and for the Labour Government to realise that if the world has changed, surely their position on remaining isolated from Europe must too.
