Scottish independence would weaken the UK’s defence posture and hand Vladimir Putin a “win,” according to Defence Procurement Minister Luke Pollard.
Speaking to Scottish journalists in London, Pollard said that removing the UK’s nuclear deterrent from Scottish waters, as proposed by the Scottish Government, would make Britain less secure and risk thousands of defence jobs.
“The thing that Putin fears most about the UK is our nuclear deterrent,” Pollard said, as reported by the Daily Record. “So why make the argument that gives Putin a win, that removes jobs and makes Britain less secure? I don’t think, in an era of threat, that’s a credible position for anyone.”
He continued: “If I was sat in the Kremlin and I was looking at the nation that is at the forefront of support for Ukraine, that has a commitment to support Ukraine after a peace, and there was a way of being able to erode its defence capabilities, I would regard that as a win.”
Pollard added that the future of Scotland was “very much down to the people of Scotland,” but warned that weakening the UK’s integrated defence posture would play into Russia’s hands.
The remarks came alongside an announcement by Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander of a new £177 million defence export deal between Saab and the Royal Thai Air Force, which will see Leonardo in Edinburgh produce radar systems for Gripen fighter jets.
Alexander described the deal as “further proof that Scotland is globally recognised as a centre of defence excellence,” crediting UK government support in securing it amid “stiff international competition.
If the Iran-Israel war taught us anything, it is that Russian and Iranian bot accounts represent a large proportion of the anti-western comments, ‘likes’ and general anti-British and anti-western sentiment seen on social media platforms. It could well explain, at least partially, the ‘closet tory’ phenomenon that emerged over the last 10-15 years, whereby actual election results generally turn out to be more right wing than the social (and mainstream) media would indicate in the run-up to elections. Scottish independence and Irish unification seem to be some of their favourite topics.
Funny isn’t it when the cousins bombed Iran all those bots calling for independence closed down!
Why are they talking about independence, it is not likely to happen any time soon or even ever. Maybe if Farage and his bunch of clueless minion get in but that is a long shot at best.
The media just won’t let it go, and it stoked the divisions and open wounds in Scotland .
Why would independence weaken defence? Such statements are not usually accompanied with anything other than a biased opinion piece. The UK already collaborates on defence, with many other countries. Is that proposed to be changed? The UK cannot defend itself for very long based on our own resources so independence (presumably from Scotland) will hardly make much of a difference. Since Scotland ‘only’ contributes about 9% to the total it doesn’t make much impact. Scotland’s defence and potential enemies are the exact same that affect England and Wales. so what difference does it make? What stops defence collaboration, aside from pig-headed refusal?