The Scottish Conservatives have accused the SNP government of being hostile to the defence industry and of undermining it through what they call grievance politics, responding to a Scottish Affairs Committee report warning that Scotland risks missing out on increased defence spending unless skills shortages are addressed.
Rachael Hamilton, deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives and the party’s business spokesperson, said: “This stark report must be a wake-up call for John Swinney and the SNP government.
“Their grievance politics and narrow-mindedness have undermined Scotland’s defence sector, which is vital for jobs and Scotland’s economy, for far too long.”
She said: “In an increasingly uncertain world, the nationalists should be doing all they can to support investment and jobs in the industry, but instead they have been hostile to it.”
On the skills findings at the centre of the report, she said: “Their atrocious failures in education and funding apprenticeship places are directly behind this alarming skills shortage in Scotland’s workforce.”
She added: “Both of Scotland’s governments must urgently work together to boost defence spending, back the thousands of jobs the sector supports and prioritise protecting our national security.”
The report itself finds that demand for apprenticeships and technical training is high while provision is not keeping pace with future workforce needs, which the committee 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.”
Two Defence Technical Excellence Colleges 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. The committee finds that progress on establishing the colleges in Scotland has fallen behind equivalent work in England, and that intergovernmental cooperation should not be a cause of delay.
Defence apprenticeships in Scotland run mainly through the Modern Apprenticeship and Graduate Apprenticeship systems, with Modern Apprenticeships administered by Skills Development Scotland and the programme supporting around 39,000 apprenticeships each year with £90 million of funding. The Scottish Government announced a review of publicly funded contribution rates in March 2026, intended to align them better with future economic needs.
The committee says it hopes to see the Scottish Government play its part in ensuring Scotland has the skills needed to meet demand in the sector, and that the two governments must work together with greater urgency to expand skills provision and improve long-term workforce planning.
On perceptions of the industry, the report records that some witnesses expressed a view that Scottish Government policies have contributed to detrimental perceptions of the sector, which the committee describes as one of the most persistent barriers to recruitment. The committee also 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 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.
