Scottish independence: Defence firms silent on quitting Scotland amid climate of fear, so what’s the plan Alex Salmond, give them a balloon and a flag?

Dear All

If you were to believe some people in the Scottish National Party everything will be rosy in the garden post independence and nothing will change.

Sadly both of those notions are founded on hot air and limited mental capacity.

With independence comes pros and cons, in order to offset the cons, you would have thought that the SNP would have a plan.

From what I can see the ‘plan’ is to let everything drop and pick up the pieces, this means for some people if you are in a certain type of job in Scotland, you might not be able to keep that job.

It is said by Lord West of Spithead, the ex-first sea lord and Labour security minister that defence firms are hiding plans to quit Scotland if it votes for independence because of a “climate of fear.”

Military shipbuilding is the most highlighted area for the chop, the SNP position is that if Scotland goes independent then military shipbuilding for the UK will continue because Govan and Scotsoun represent good value for money.

That is incredibly naïve, simplistic and fantasy politics. Anyway West says that he had spoken to a number of organisations that intended to shift operations south of the Border.

Put bluntly that is where the market is. Scotland won’t have a defence industry of note if at all.

SNP plans post independence?

They don’t have an answer never mind addressing the question.  

BAE is currently reviewing which of its yards are to close, Lord West also said that it was “difficult to see” Portsmouth dockyard being closed. I previously blogged on how closing Portsmouth was not even an option from a defence point of view by Westminster.

West added that the Nationalists were trying to “deceive Scots” over the true impact of independence.

He went on:

“I believe that the damage to our island’s defence and the economic costs, particularly to Scotland, of separation have not been properly exposed and indeed that there have been attempts to hide the detail from the Scottish people.”

It seems that unless the SNP start getting their ‘act’ together, they are heading for the worst possible result when the referendum comes, so far the SNP Government has said that it has 16 areas getting covered. So far nothing is coming out and no details of any real note.

A white paper is expected next year, however some issues are so complex that this ‘ten to midnight’ on the back of a fag pack will be too little too late.

SNP Westminster leader and defence spokesman Angus Robertson said:

“This is scaremongering without a stitch of evidence from Lord West, and his silly claim has already been dismissed by experts.”

Robertson cites Ian Godden, who is a former chairman of aerospace and defence industry promoter ADS, he said that the skills and expertise of Scotland’s defence sector will enable it to continue to succeed after independence.

Left out of that equation is something rather important.

Capital!

You can be as smart and as skilful as you like but without the necessary capital to back it up and the orders, the entire thing will collapse.

3,000 shipbuilding jobs on the Clyde are potentially at risk, what is the SNP’s plan?

Apparently, it is ‘presenting the strongest possible case’ to the UK to save it, in other words, someone else comes in, does all the work, sticks up all the money, and takes all the risk.

Then Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon come along at the end and try to grab credit and a photo op.

GMB union spokesman Jim Moohan said that Admiral Lord West’s warning needed to be listened to. 

He said:

“Independence will be too much of a cross to bear for the shipbuilding industry and it will come to an end, just as we have managed to get it back on its feet again.”

Unfortunately some in the SNP think independence can be won by a smile from Alex Salmond, a balloon and a wee Scottish flag.

These people have no ideas absolutely no ideas how to secure a country or its infrastructure! They live in a fantasy world were they think everything they want they will get and there will be no opposition.

Big wake up call in 2014 coming their way!

Independence needs shelved until at least 2018 in order for the work in all the areas to be done and the Scottish Government and local government restructured.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University