By David Scott
14 September
Scotland’s rival political parties have united in talks aimed at persuading the Ministry of Defence not to go ahead with proposals to cut the UK’s £37bn defence budget.
Leading figures from the Scottish National Party, Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Scottish Greens met in Edinburgh on September 13 to discuss a joint submission to the UK Strategic and Defence Security Review.
There are fears that jobs and the Scottish economy would be hard hit if suggested defence cuts of up to 20% go ahead.
Under threat are two Royal Navy supercarriers being built on the Clyde coast and at Rosyth in Fife and RAF bases in the northeast, bringing the possibility of thousands of jobs being axed.
The five parties involved described the talks as ‘constructive’ but said more work was needed.
Deputy SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said the meeting had been ‘very productive.’ She added: ‘A united effort will be far more powerful than any of us acting individually.’
But Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray warned that time was running out for the joint submission while LibDem finance spokesman Jeremy Purvis wanted to make the draft ‘stronger’
Annabel Goldie, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said it was important to ‘present the best case we can for Scotland’.
Scottish Green Party leader Patrick Harvie said a reduction in defence spending was ‘no bad thing’ but stressed it had to be done ‘without leaving economic wreckage behind’.
