Defence & Security
The UK Armed Forces are the best in the world – they work around the globe to keep us safe. The nationalists’ plans to break up the UK Armed Forces would make us less safe and see the loss of thousands of defence jobs.
The UK Armed Forces are the very best in the world. For centuries, men and women from Scotland have stood shoulder to shoulder with people from England, Wales and Northern Ireland to keep us safe at home and to tackle threats to our freedom abroad.
Our intelligence services work seamlessly across the UK to tackle threats from extremism and terrorism. Unfortunately, recent years have shown us that Scotland is not immune to these threats. When the attack took place at Glasgow Airport, the entire UK worked to bring those responsible to justice.
Tens of thousands of jobs rely on the contracts that come from the UK armed forces. From the staff who work at the military bases, the high-tech companies that are making the software and hardware that our Forces use and the shipyards that build the ships for the Royal Navy, being part of the UK is good for Scottish jobs.
The SNP say that we can leave the UK, but still keep all the benefits. They say that we would set up a separate Scottish Defence Force and Scottish Intelligence Services and that everything would, somehow, be better than what we have now. It is a fantasy. How can we rip up centuries of history, throw away decades of experience and expertise, attempt to recreate everything that we already have on a far smaller budget and far smaller scale and expect things to be better? It just isn’t credible.
The fact is we are stronger and safer together as part of the UK.
The 5 things you need to know
WE ARE SAFER TOGETHER – Scotland benefits from every pound spent of the world’s fourth largest defence budget. The SNP’s proposal to spend £2.5 billion to cover defence, intelligence and cyber capabilities, is a fraction (around just 7%) of the combined UK budgets for defence, intelligence and cyber, and less than countries such as Denmark and Norway spend on defence alone. This investment, together with the economies of scale, means that the UK is able to maintain world- class armed forces and security services protecting us. Our UK Armed Forces are made of 142,500 Regulars and nearly 35,000 trained Volunteer Reserves. Walking away from all this world-leading service makes us less, not more secure.
THE UK IS A FORCE FOR GOOD – Our UK Armed Forces have a proud history of campaigning against oppression and have put themselves in harm’s way on our behalf. We play our part in international peacekeeping missions and have worked to stop the conflicts that were taking place in places like Kosovo and Sierra Leone. When natural disasters strikes it is often Scottish service personnel on Clyde-built ships that rush to save lives.
GLOBAL INFLUENCE – The UK’s long, proud history gives us a seat at the world’s top tables. We are a permanent member of the UN’s Security Council, giving us an influence over our world - something no other small country can match. The UK also has extensive bilateral defence relationships with countries across the world delivering billions of pounds worth of benefits every year.
SCOTTISH JOBS – Thousands of families in Scotland rely on being part of the UK for their livelihoods. This is not just the people who serve in the Forces, but also the civilians who work in the bases and the people who work for defence contractors on UK contracts. The defence sector is an important part of Scotland’s industry, employing around 12,000 people, but is highly dependent upon domestic UK defence spending,
SHIPBUILDING – The recent loss of Scottish shipbuilding jobs was a tragedy for those affected. However, it underlined the fact that, despite claims from the nationalists, the UK does not build complex warships outside of the UK. If we vote to leave, we are leaving behind the shipbuilding contracts. The people who work at the yards know this and have made this clear to the SNP.
What the experts say
Defence
Former Black Watch commander Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Irwin: “to spend money in Scotland replicating all the existing UK-wide policy, administrative and practical functions that are needed to sustain a defence force seems profligate, to say the least of it … there is, I think, little doubt that the nation and its interests … would not only be less well protected than they are now but, more to the point, would actually be inadequately protected.”
George Grant, Associate Fellow of the Henry Jackson Society: “At the heart of the problem with the SNP’s defence strategy is the fact that it appears to be more concerned with helping win the 2014 independence referendum, than with actually defending Scotland.”
Scotland Institute report: “The consequences of separation will, in fact, be deleterious: [a separate Scotland] will not be able to reach the level of defence that Scottish citizens currently enjoy within the UK. It will be less prepared and less able than the UK (or Scotland in the UK) to discharge the fundamental responsibility of protecting its citizens. Separation will only compromise Scottish security.”
Dr Azeem Ibrahim of the Scotland Institute think tank: “An independent Scottish Defence Force would lose economies of scale currently enjoyed by UK Defence Forces … and on the fact that independence would threaten Scotland’s defence contractors, threatening jobs or requiring subsidies to retain them.”
Security
Sandy Hardie, former member of the FCO and intelligence expert: “I personally remain sceptical about the capacity of an independent Scotland to create a sovereign intelligence and security capability that would fully fit for purpose in an uncertain world, still less one that could replicate the existing levels of protection.”
Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford, former SNP defence advisor: “An independent Scotland could not realistically hope to replicate the current UK triad of MI5; MI6; and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Even attempting to produce a scaled-down version of the latter would appear to be well beyond the likely resources of a fledgling independent nation of some 5 million souls.”
NATO:
Professor Malcolm Chalmers, Director of UK Defence Policy at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies: "If the Scottish Government maintains its position that Trident must leave Scotland before a safe and secure alternative base can be built... this could poison defence relations more generally between the two states, and with the rest of NATO. The best scenario, Scotland would remain highly dependent on the rest of the UK to support its defence capability."
Shipbuilding:
John Dolan, GMB Convener at Scotstoun: “We are shipbuilders and there is no chance of the Scottish Government placing orders for ships. It is quite clear if Scotland votes Yes, we will not be building ships for the UK Government.”
Raymond Duguid, Unite’s senior shop steward at Babcock in Rosyth: “If Scotland was independent, no one in Scotland could bid to build type 26. So that would, yes, decimate [Scotland’s shipbuilding industry].”
Duncan McPhee, the UNITE the Union convenor at the Scotstoun shipyard: “The reality is that if we left the UK, then it would be the end for shipbuilding in Scotland. If we leave the UK, we leave behind the UK defence contracts. It would be devastating.”
Eric Mcleod, GMB Convenor, Babcock Marine Rosyth: “The SNP say that a separate Scottish Navy will guarantee Scottish jobs, but this is just nonsense. No UK Ministry of Defence means no more shipbuilding jobs in Scotland.”