Swinney under fire by UK Defence Secretary for 'irresponsible' remarks over Russian threat
John Swinney is under fire from the UK Defence Secretary for his claims the Labour government is failing to protect Scotland from Russia threats
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has branded John Swinney "irresponsible" for the First Minister's "unfounded" claims the UK government is failing to protect Scotland's waters.
On a visit to BAE’s operations on the Clyde in Glasgow, Mr Streeting also called on the SNP to "explain how their white flag policy on unilateral disarmament would work" if an independent Scotland wanted to join Nato.
The row emerged following remarks by Mr Swinney claiming that Scotland is not being protected by the UK government against threats from Russia, particularly in the Far North - with similar concerns also made by the cross-party House of Commons Defence Committee.
Mr Swinney has been heavily critical of the UK government for what he has argued is a failure to protect Scotland's waters.
Delivering a keynote address earlier this year, Mr Swinney hit out at Westminster for choosing to "scrap its entire maritime patrol fleet and its replacement".
He added: "The United Kingdom has chosen not to base a single offshore patrol vessel, frigate or destroyer in Scotland – requiring vessels to be dispatched from the south coast of England when the flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet arrives off Scotland."
In his speech to SNP conference earlier this month, Mr Swinney starkly said: “In this uncertain world, what is certain is that the UK is failing to keep Scotland secure.”
He insisted the changing nature of modern warfare – where cyber attacks and drones are used – means nuclear weapons are “obsolete”.
He said that while “the UK has the means to kill millions of people in minutes”, he claimed: “Scotland’s vast coastline is left dangerously exposed.”
The First Minister repeated his warnings on Thursday, telling MSPs at Holyrood: “I think that our country is being left defenceless by the appalling approach to defence taken by the UK government.”
But Mr Streeting, the UK Defence Secretary, condemned the SNP leader for his comments.
He said: “Well, we've got HMS Prince of Wales currently out on a major exercise now, so I think it's very visible proof for what the First Minister said is both irresponsible and unfounded.
“I don't think the SNP should be playing party politics with national defence and security. We’d much rather work with them.”
The Labour Defence Secretary also hit out at the SNP’s opposition to nuclear weapons, which are based at Faslane on the Clyde - arguing an independent Scotland would not be able to join the Nato alliance if the opposition remained.
He said: “In terms of the risk of leaving the UK with insufficient defence, one of the biggest risks facing that security, is the SNP’s position on unilateral nuclear disarmament.
“It is by far and away the most important deterrent that we have, and it is not just the UK's deterrent, it's Nato's deterrent.
“So any time the SNP says that a separate Scotland could be a Nato member, they have to first explain how their white flag policy on unilateral nuclear disarmament would work under a nuclear alliance.”
Mr Streeting said he does not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin “would be foolish enough to seek a direct war with Nato today”.
He added: “What I can’t be certain of is at some point in the future he might not try, and that is Nato’s threat assessment.”
Mr Streeting said this is why the UK government is “building our capability, building our defence industry, including here in Scotland, and building our alliances, so that we are strong and therefore able to deter any potential Russian threat”.
He argued that the Labour government is “delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War”, with plans to take defence spending up to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2035 included in Chancellor John Healey’s Budget this week.
Mr Streeting said such investment is being made “because we can see in Ukraine that the nature of warfare is changing, the nature of the threat is rising, so we can’t afford to stand still”.
He insisted: “The people of Scotland and people right across the United Kingdom can draw comfort and security in the knowledge that we have some extraordinary capability at our disposal across our Armed Forces, as well as our special forces, and the protection of the Nato alliance.”
The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.
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