Govan solution

A DISAPPOINTING aspect of the recent debates about the impact of Scottish independence on jobs in the Govan shipyard and Rosyth naval base is that they have focused almost entirely on how the status quo can be ­maintained.

Unfortunately, very few voices have focused on the ways in which the Scottish Government can encourage and promote a more positive and constructive manufacturing sector, with less focus on the declining military industry and the arms trade.

One solution would be the ­establishment of an agency to help offset the employment impact of the cuts being made across the arms industry.

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Such an agency could also ­examine alternative work for the other people employed in the military industry in Scotland. Many of them have the ­engineering skills that are in short supply and much needed by the manufacturing industry.

If the government, whether in Scotland or the UK, transferred the resources it provides to the arms industry into promoting renewables, it could produce more and better jobs.

Andrew Smith

Campaign Against 
Arms Trade

Wells Terrace, London