Political opinion: Gregor Poynton MP - SNP 'selling Scotland short' on defence jobs
Scottish Labour’s Gregor Poynton MP has blasted the SNP for “selling Scotland short” after Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes confirmed in a formal response to him that the Scottish National Investment Bank will still refuse to fund munitions manufacturing, despite the defence sector’s huge jobs potential.
Mr Poynton had written to Ms Forbes on June 2 urging the Scottish Government to reform the Bank’s restrictive investment mandate, warning that Scotland risked missing out on billions in contracts, thousands of high-skill jobs, and critical industrial capacity.
In her reply, Ms Forbes admitted that Scotland’s defence sector plays a “key role” in the UK’s sovereign defence and in supporting allies like Ukraine, and highlighted that Scottish Enterprise has awarded £9.22 million to BAE Systems for a training and skills academy. But she reiterated the SNP’s blanket ban on SNIB supporting any munitions manufacturing, one of the key areas where investment shortfalls are most acute.
Mr Poynton said the SNP’s stance was “student union politics dressed up as economic strategy” and warned that Scotland was being “locked out” of a boom in defence investment.
“Kate Forbes admits Scotland’s defence sector is vital to our economy and our allies, yet the SNP refuses to back the very projects that would deliver thousands of high-skill jobs,” Mr Poynton said.
“While the UK Government is putting billions into shipbuilding, munitions plants and sovereign defence capabilities, the SNP are standing on the side-lines, waving opportunities away.
"It’s economic vandalism and it’s workers in defence industry jobs across Scotland who will pay the price.”
Mr Poynton said the SNP’s “ideological purity test” would see contracts, apprenticeships and advanced engineering jobs flow to England and Wales instead of Scotland.
“Scotland can either be at the heart of the UK’s defence industry or be left a backwater. The SNP have chosen the latter.”