Scotland is well placed to benefit from increased defence spending but risks missing out unless persistent skills shortages are addressed, according to a report published by the Scottish Affairs Committee.
The committee finds that demand for apprenticeships and technical training is high while provision is not keeping pace with future workforce needs, which it warns puts at risk both Scotland’s ability to deliver the United Kingdom’s defence strategy and its capacity to realise the benefits of rising investment.
Patricia Ferguson, chair of the committee, said: “Scotland has a world-leading defence sector and is well-placed to benefit from increased UK defence spending. However, unless long-standing skills shortages are addressed, this opportunity could be missed.”
The report records that 6.78 per cent of Ministry of Defence spending with industry went to Scotland in 2024/25, worth £2,165 million, against £2,553 million and 10.19 per cent five years earlier in 2019/20, while spending across the United Kingdom as a whole rose from approximately £59 billion to £66 billion over the same period.
Its summary states: “Scotland remains central to the UK’s defence sector at a time when maintaining a resilient industrial base is more critical than ever. The context of increased defence spending presents a significant opportunity for Scotland.”
Realising that will require long term investment supporting demand, skills and innovation across the supply chain, the committee argues, warning that “inconsistent funding and stop-start procurement weaken sovereign capability, workforce retention and the longer-term value that the Scottish defence sector can provide”.
On the colleges intended to deliver advanced technical skills, the committee finds progress on establishing Defence Technical Excellence Colleges in Scotland has fallen behind equivalent work in England, and that intergovernmental cooperation should not be a cause of delay. Two are proposed for Scotland, and according to the committee the UK Government has said that without matched funding from the Scottish Government only one will proceed.
Ms Ferguson said: “One of the main ways skills training can be expanded is through DTECs, which have the potential to strengthen Scotland’s skills pipeline and expand access to high-quality apprenticeships that can support the UK’s defence ambitions. The committee hopes to see the UK and Scottish Governments work together to deliver both proposed DTECs in Scotland and, more widely, that Scotland can accelerate work to develop the skills base its defence sector needs.”
Smaller firms account for 98.2 per cent of Scotland’s businesses, and the committee calculates that around 0.078 per cent of total departmental direct expenditure is spent with small and medium-sized enterprises based in Scotland, describing that as substantially lower than Scotland’s population share and at odds with the scale and importance of the country’s defence manufacturing base.
Ms Ferguson said: “It’s also important that Scottish defence SMEs get the support they need to grow. Removing barriers to defence supply chains and improving engagement with prime contractors will help unlock their full potential and help make sure the economic benefits of defence investment can be felt across Scotland.”
The report also raises the treatment of defence firms by financial institutions, with the committee stating that it is unacceptable for companies working to deliver national security objectives to be denied access to financial services through debanking, and calling on the government to engage with the financial services sector to end the practice.
On public perceptions, it concludes that the Defence Industrial Strategy called for a public conversation on the importance of defence but that sufficient progress has not been made, asking the government to set out how it plans to deliver that conversation in Scotland.
The committee welcomes the Defence Growth Deal and the Defence Universities Alliance while urging both governments to act with greater urgency to strengthen Scotland’s defence skills base, and describes the availability of a skilled workforce as key to determining whether Scotland can realise the benefits of defence investment and support national security objectives.
Fortunately Scotland is still producing a modest amount of hydrocarbons from the N Sea. The world is rapidly approaching an oil price crunch due to Trump’s failed “three week” war on the Ayatollahs. Trump is aware of the likely effect on US inflation should the oil price rapidly rise to a projected $250 a barrel. He is already trying to blame Zelenskiy for the high costs of refined oil products because of Ukraine bombing Russian oil refineries. And definitely not the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by the IRGC
By now everybody should be aware of the close relationship between Trump and the war criminal Putin; earlier this year Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch – one of Putin’s inner circle, paid for Trump’s son Donald Jr’s marriage celebrations, where dozens of Russians were in attendance. As well as troupes of scantily clad Russian women dancers in stilettos.
Trump and his administration of sycophants have consistently taken the Russian side in the war and have – repeatedly – attempted to appease Putin by pressurising Ukraine into capitulating to Russian maximalist demands. The American free press is now calling out the Trump crime family for alleged corruption. They should also look into Trump’s relationship with the war criminal Putin, as his administration proposes massive cuts to the American commitment to NATO
All summer, the oil price has been artificially held down by releases from global oil stockpiles. These are now close to exhaustion. Big Oil and Big Gas are rubbing their hands with glee at the vast profits they are about to accrue. The rest of us can freeze.