Scottish independence: SNP hit back at claims Scots shipyards will die with indy; SNP MP Angus Robertson stakes his case on someone’s subjective opinion, does he have a good website too Angus?

Dear All

Scotland's shipbuilding industry is a key employer of Scots that unionist parties say would be doomed under independence.

So, is it a claim that stands up?

The economic case is that without UK military shipbuilding orders, there wouldn’t be enough work to keep all the yards open.

The SNP Government hasn’t a plan to deal with the withdrawal of military shipbuilding in an independent Scotland other than saying the UK wouldn’t do it.

No plan!

Despite having done no work in this area, the SNP have been branded this story as shoddy, partisan and dishonest.

So, when are they going to present their economic plan to reassure the workers that their jobs are safe?

The SNP won’t, because they know this is an argument they can’t win because they control UK Defence contracts being placed.

Ian Davidson, Labour chairman of the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee, said the choice for Scottish shipbuilding was clear: stay in the UK and have a secure source of work for decades, or leave and see orders from the UK dry up.

Reading this statement it seems he is guaranteeing something which the SNP will not do.

There is fresh speculation that BAE Systems, which operates two shipyards and employs 3500 people in Glasgow, will wind down Scottish operations. The bottom line is that this company will go where the money is, that is how it works in defence.

Angus Robertson, the SNPs' leader at Westminster, has been the SNP’s defence spokesman for many years.

And guess what?

He never produced a plan for the defence of Scotland; he left that to the UK, to his credit however the SNP did cut and paste part of the UK defence plan for their own ends and he gave it the nod. This led to the farce of the SNP supporting only one airbase for Scotland when previously they said it was important Scotland retained three.

And on naval matters, he said Scotland could have a navy like Norway, but when asked couldn’t answer what the Norwegian navy looked like or disposition.

He said they had a good website!

Probably with pictures!!!!!

Angus Robertson in refuting the latest claims said the committee's claims were not supported by the facts.

He said evidence from Vice-Admiral Andrew Mathews omitted from the committee's report  confirmed the UK Government would keep the option to build Royal Navy vessels on the Clyde if Scotland became independent.

That option isn’t a guarantee of anything, with austerity yet to kick in fully, Westminster will be looking to protect jobs in England and not outsource to another country.

No military warship has been built outside the UK in 50 years.

Robertson added:

"This Labour-led committee's primary job is to scrutinise the UK Tory-led government but it has shown itself to be nothing more than an extension of the Tory/Labour anti-independence campaign."

So far the SNP Government has made no guarantee for the jobs of the workers, hasn’t answered what will happen if military shipbuilding orders dry up from Westminster and hasn’t produced an economic plan.

They hang their whole case on the opinion of Vice-Admiral Andrew Mathews who has a subjective opinion.

Well, Vice-Admiral Andrew Mathews doesn’t place military shipbuilding orders, or where they are built, or negotiate the price!

Someone is kidding themselves on and is divorced from reality.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University