Why SNP's 'no ammunition' defence policy is utterly indefensible
Scotland’s Northern Isles are increasingly important for the UK’s defence, but Scotland’s government opposes spending public money on munitions
History may not always repeat itself but it does sometimes rhyme. At the northernmost point of Unst in Shetland, the UK’s first vertical space launch is expected later this year from SaxaVord Spaceport. It is built upon the site of RAF Saxa Vord, a key radar monitoring site for intruder flights during the Cold War which was downgraded and de-garrisoned in 2006 on the basis of a ‘reduced threat’ from Russia. How times change.
Now, in the Strategic Defence Review, which reported on Monday and cited the space sector as a key challenge and opportunity for our country, SaxaVord, Unst – and the Northern Isles as a whole – are once again at the front line of UK defence.
The isles have always been of enormous strategic importance to the UK, in terms of energy development, infrastructure and our military reach in the High North and the Greenland Gap. Quite apart from the radar stations which formed one of the key defence networks against aerial incursions from Russia, Scapa Flow in Orkney was the natural base of operations for the Royal Navy during both World Wars, allowing our country to extend its reach across both the North Atlantic and the North Sea.
New opportunities, new threats
Times have changed and with them the demands of defence infrastructure. Harbours and radar sites still matter but reach in the space industry – for which SaxaVord is ideally sited – is now increasingly essential. Small wonder then that the Strategic Defence Review states that space “should be a priority technology portfolio for the new national armaments director” and that a Cabinet sub-committee should set a strategic approach to the sector from the government.
With these opportunities come new threats. An increasingly open Arctic Ocean due to climate change means increasing competition over its waters and its resources. Island communities such as our own are reliant on subsea connections which could be vulnerable to hostile actors. That should give us some cause for caution but when the world moves we cannot stick our head in the sand and hope that it passes us by unharmed.
It is also why the Scottish Government’s political crouch on defence – no public money for ammunition or military equipment – is indefensible. The SNP may claim that their opposition to public money for defence is based on principle, but if your argument is that we should have armed forces but no ammunition for them to fire, it starts to sound less principled and more political.
I’m no hawk when it comes to the military, having cut my political teeth in parliament opposing the Iraq War alongside my isles constituents, but we have to be alive to the growing threats around us.
That the government is increasing defence spending – and taking a bigger picture view on the issues that matter to the High North – is welcome. However, if the UK is to play our full part in keeping our continent safe, we need a far more ambitious plan to get to defence spending of 3 per cent of GDP and indeed beyond.
We are playing catch-up here on defence, but the time in which we can catch up is limited – a tale that’s regrettably familiar. History may not always repeat itself but it does sometimes rhyme.
Alistair Carmichael is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland
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