The Scottish Government is developing a new Defence Industrial Growth Programme intended to increase the economic benefit Scotland receives from defence, with ministers pointing to security pressures, high-value employment and the need to strengthen long-term industrial resilience.
The commitment appears in the Programme for Government, which says ministers will “establish a responsible defence industrial growth programme to maximise the economic benefits to Scotland from increased UK and allied defence spending.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson told the UK Defence Journal: “Scotland is well placed to seize the opportunity of increased UK defence spending with a highly skilled workforce, world-class universities and internationally recognised manufacturing. The conflict in Ukraine is a reminder of the increasingly complex and immediate threats we face, underlining the importance of maintaining a strong and resilient defence capability.
“Our aerospace, defence, security and space sectors contribute around £3.7 billion to the economy and support approximately 37,000 jobs. We can maximise the economic benefits of these sectors through a responsible approach while supporting innovation, skills development and building long-term economic resilience.
“The Cabinet Secretary for Economy will meet with representatives from across the sector to discuss how the Defence Industrial Growth Programme can maximise the economic benefits arising from increased UK and allied defence spending, supporting economic growth, high-value jobs and national resilience. Further details of the Programme will be announced in due course.”
Defence procurement remains reserved to the UK Government, but the Scottish Government and Parliament control a number of areas which affect the industrial base, including skills, economic development, business support, research and innovation.
Scotland already hosts substantial parts of the UK defence industry. BAE Systems is building Type 26 anti-submarine warfare frigates on the Clyde, while Babcock is constructing Type 31 frigates at Rosyth. The wider sector also includes radar, optronics, aerospace, underwater systems, engineering and other defence supply-chain activity.
SNP Westminster leader Dave Doogan said the programme would operate against a wider backdrop of pressure on defence spending and procurement.
Doogan told me: “There is an awkward truth at the centre of Andy Burnham’s new government which is that his new chancellor appears unable to provide the quantum to invest in defence that he, as Defence Secretary, resigned in protest over. This matters across the defence industrial complex and that includes here in Scotland. When a government is self-evidently unable to fund its own defence obligations it does not inspire the private investment in people or capital that our sector requires.
Confidence in Scottish defence product in our allies has never been higher across all domains and the MOD must capitalise on this with base load orders placed in good time and in full rather than piecemeal treasury drip feeding. Mr Burnham says Westminster isn’t working and he wants to change things, he could start by injecting some much needed pace and ambition into defence procurement.”
Former SNP defence spokesman Stewart McDonald also welcomed the announcement and highlighted the powers already available to the Scottish Government and Parliament in areas surrounding defence industry.
McDonald told me: “This is a welcome and, in some ways, overdue announcement from the Scottish Government. It’s welcome because it’s the pursuit of our own domestic security interests and that of our allies and partners, but also in terms of our domestic economic interest. Defence may be reserved but the Scottish Government and Parliament have considerable powers that can ensure Scotland’s defence sector is operating at full pace – particularly around skills, R&D, public finance and innovation.
“The key is to ensure the defence programme is agile, inclusive of key strategic partners and wastes no time in getting to work. I’m looking forward to seeing how it pans out.”
The Scottish Government has not yet set out the level of funding attached to the programme or the specific forms of support that will be offered. Ministers say the Cabinet Secretary for Economy will meet representatives from across the sector before further details are announced.
That’s nice of them. So the British government gets criticised, the SNP orders abroad but now they have a strategy. Wow. 🤔🙃
Exactly ferries ordered in Turkey, welding academy not financed but suddenly it is eh let’s support defence. Better late than never I guess.
👍😊
Interesting that Scotland seeks to maximise the benefit to itself rather than to UK Defence quality and speed of production, they can leave all that to the likes of BAE/BABCOCK et al.
Without English defence jobs and orders Scotland would be wiped out. It’s already beyond ridiculous having a only ship yards there, we need to open an English one to build new frigates and destroyers.
Appledore has been ‘saved’ by Navantia. You’d have to ask the owners of Cammel Laird their intentions but they appear to have foregone the skill-sets that the yard once had to build ships and submarines. Many old yards are now housing and marinas. They’re gone forever as industrial spaces and the people that worked there are pensioners. This didn’t happen in 2 years or the previous 14 years.
SNP with a plan. Really.
The welding school and the ferries debacle tell you everything you need to know.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh City Council has banned defence companies from advertising and sponsorship within the city, saying they “stand against the arms trade”.
I’m a Scot, British, European (not keen on EU), raised in Derby and part of a family which has had 3 generations involved in the defence industry. So I’m bemused that all of a sudden a Scottish Government that has resolutely ignored or actively hindered investment in the defence Industry in Scotland has woken up.
It’s also the first time I’ve ever seen them put a figure to the number of directly employed staff involved with Defence Industry in Scotland, and it’s a hammer blow to their “we can go it alone” idealism. Put bluntly it’s an admission that Defence is the largest direct and indirect employer in Scotland and they can no longer just ignore it.
But what I find annoying is it completely ignores the “N” word, that being Nuclear, fact is that HMNB Clyde is the second largest single employer in Scotland and given the investment and growth it’s going to be the largest in the next decade (Presently that’s the QEUH in Glasgow).
Which is why they didn’t invest in the welding school as it was to support the Nuclear Subs !
I live in Derby and I have a Derby Accent (Duck rather than Hen), and do understand why English folks are perplexed about the lack of SB yards in England, so here are a few reasons why.
1. Politics every PM is the sworn to protect the UK and that includes doing everything possible to keep the Union intact, so unwritten rule is don’t give the SNP and ammunition. In 2014 Cammelune waggled the 13 Frigates being built in Scotland under the Scottish voters noses and it worked ! But it’s basically a massive electoral bribe, which is nothing new because that’s what any Political promise is.
The other small problem is the work stream, there just aren’t enough orders to justify another Yard, just look at Rosyth 5 orders and then what ? Mind you I think that may have a lot to do with MOD quite rightly wanting to see how the first T31 turns out before committing to anything else. The POW shaft issues really caused a lot of concern regarding QC and cost a fortune to fix so 🤞🏻.
2. The US if you set aside the present clueless incumbent the US is 100% opposed to Scottish independence due to HMNB Clyde and Scotlands strategic location and political leanings.
3. The fact is that in the next decade the largest single U.K SB Yard will actually be in England but everyone overlooks that as it only builds Submarines now and is unable to revert to surface ships as well (finite infrastructure and resources). And it’s very likely that it will have more orders than the 2 yards in Scotland combined and generate far more revenue ! What you also forget is that it’s not just the SB yards, it’s the invisible bit that no one sees because it’s distributed all over the place. The numbers employed in the supply chain in England completely dwarfs the numbers in the Scottish Defence Industry.
4. SB history in the UK has been horrendous and nails in the coffin of it in England have been pretty well self impaled.
1. Water side Housing Developments on just about every possible place you could build a large modern Yard. Even the ones that could be regenerated are now hemmed in (see CL for details). So where would you build a new yard ?
2. Getting rid of Colleges of FE and Techs to encourage a University Education that has starved industry of Engineers and saddled millions with massive debts.
3. The really bad taste left by the last SB effort in England, the Swan Hunter Bay class fiasco cost hundreds of millions of £s and had to be rescued by BAe on the Clyde and Barrow.
4. Just a personal observation but if we were to build from scratch a Nuclear Submarine Yard it probably wouldn’t be in Barrow, it was fine a Century ago but modern boats are huge. Who in their right minds would build a yard with an access route that changes constantly, has insufficient infrastructure for the workforce, very limited employee catchment area, requires repeated dredging and they can never take the boats back for there for refits ? Oh and it’s a Pig to get to as well (all due to lack of Political vision and a landowner who blocks every attempt to put in a duel carriageway as it requires a bridge on his land).
I’d just add to that and this applies to UK in general, we completely denigrate Engineering, Science and High End Skilled workers on these islands. In U.K a person can get a PHd in Politics or Sociology and put Dr as their title, in Europe it’s actually more prestigious to have an Engineering MSc or PhD and put Dipl-ing as a title instead.
What have Margaret Thatcher and Kemi Badenoch got in common ? Both got Degrees in Science or Engineering, worked in industry and then retrained as Lawyers (MT was a Barrister). I wonder if that was because it looked better on their Political CV’s 🤔