Douglas Alexander, the Secretary of State for Scotland, has dismissed SNP claims that Scotland’s coast is undefended as a fundamentally unserious response to serious times, in an interview with the UK Defence Journal on board HMS Prince of Wales.
Put to him in Oslo, the SNP’s assertion drew a blunt response: “I have little patience for those who claim Scotland has somehow been left defenseless because it’s talking down the men and women who guard our skies and our seas, And if the perceived benefit is simply to score political points, I think that’s a fundamentally unserious response to undoubtedly serious times.”
Alexander pointed instead to the submarine fleet at Faslane that sustains the continuous at-sea deterrent and the Typhoons and P-8 Poseidons flying from Lossiemouth, and argued that Scotland is central to the alliance’s northern defence: “Each and every day, Scotland benefits from the capabilities of the UK armed forces. In Scotland, we’re on freedom’s frontier, given the strategic significance of the High North. Even since I’ve arrived here in Norway, we’ve committed an extra 90 million pounds to the Atlantic Net, a network of drones and sensors to keep our underwater cables and other assets secure.”
Insisting “So we take the defense of the realm very seriously”, the minister turned the question back on the nationalists: “What those observations reveal, or what they beg, is a question that the SNP have never been able to answer. How does breaking up our country, breaking up the Royal Navy, breaking up the Royal Air Force, breaking up Britain’s intelligence services leave us safer? The answer is it wouldn’t, and the truth is Scotland stands stronger and is safer in these troubled times as part of the United Kingdom and with the strength and support of the UK armed forces, the UK intelligence capability, and the UK nuclear deterrent standing behind us.”
Earlier in the interview, Alexander put the Ministry of Defence’s footprint in Scotland at about 26,300 jobs, including 12,200 directly in industry, and about £2.1 billion of spending a year, a contribution he summed up as “so Scotland is safer and stronger as part of the United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom is safer and stronger with Scotland at the heart of its defenses.” He spoke with evident pride about the Rosyth-built HMS Prince of Wales, “part of a carrier strike group that has been working in recent months to keep us safe in the high north”.
Wes Streeting, the Defence Secretary, has also rejected the claim that Scotland’s coast is undefended, and the UK Defence Journal has examined claims that there are no naval vessels in Scottish waters.
The Ministry of Defence announced the extra £90 million for Atlantic Net, the Royal Navy’s network of uncrewed sensors to protect undersea infrastructure, at the International Sea Power Conference in Oslo on Tuesday.
