It’s not every day you see a government proudly torpedo a job-creating industrial project in the name of principle, then claim the moral high ground for doing so.
Yet that’s precisely where we find ourselves with the Scottish Government’s baffling decision to withdraw support from a state-of-the-art welding facility on the Clyde.
This wasn’t some shadowy arms deal or weapons plant buried in a hillside. It was a high-tech training and research centre, led by Rolls-Royce no less, designed to pioneer advanced welding techniques to support submarine construction and shipbuilding. It promised to modernise the industry, boost carbon efficiency, cut costs, and create hundreds of skilled jobs in Glasgow. But apparently, that’s a step too far for the Scottish Government—because some of that work might one day support the Royal Navy.
Enter Mairi Gougeon on BBC Sunday Show, trying to explain how this makes sense. Asked why the SNP pulled the plug, she said, “When we have principles, we stick to them.” The principle? That public money must never, under any circumstances, be used to support the manufacture of munitions—or, as seems to be the expanded definition now, the welding of anything that might be used on something military-adjacent.
The result? A world-class skills centre is being left to rust on the drawing board, and Scotland’s industrial workforce gets the message loud and clear: if your job touches defence, don’t expect help from your own government.
Of course, the obvious follow-up question is whether such a rigid position still makes sense in today’s world. The answer, apparently, is yes. Despite acknowledging “unprecedented threats” and “the war that’s ongoing in Ukraine,” Gougeon stuck to the line. The SNP, she insisted, could support the idea of defence spending while still opposing any public funding for the things that actually enable it.
It’s a masterclass in doublethink. And it gets worse.
Because while SNP ministers were busy withdrawing funding from a welding centre that might support submarines, they’ve quietly continued funding something that definitely does: Ferguson Marine. The shipyard in Port Glasgow is wholly owned by the Scottish Government, and it’s currently building large steel blocks for the Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigates.
So let’s get this straight. Welding steel for submarines? No. Welding steel for warships? Yes. Funding a private centre that boosts skills in strategic industries? Never. Pumping public money into a nationalised shipyard building hulls for the Ministry of Defence? Absolutely fine. It’s not principle. It’s pantomime.
Labour’s Paul Sweeney nailed it when he first called the decision “an act of industrial self-sabotage.” But in a fuller statement, he didn’t hold back:
“SNP Minister Mairi Gougeon was clearly caught off guard by today’s commitment by the UK Government on the Rolls-Royce welding centre in Glasgow and inadvertently exposed the logical incoherence of the Scottish Government’s position in relation to state aid for aerospace and shipbuilding companies involved in critical defence work.
Not only is it industrially naive, but it’s hypocritical, too. The only thing keeping the Scottish Government owned Ferguson Marine shipyard at Port Glasgow open is subcontract work from BAE Systems Naval Ships for the Royal Navy’s Type 26 Frigate programme, while the Scottish Government’s own procurement agency award CalMac ferry contracts to Turkey and Poland, disregarding social value for the Scottish supply chain.
Scottish Enterprise also recently grant funded the Applied Shipbuilding Academy at BAE Systems Scotstoun shipyard, so far from this being a cast iron principle, their policy on state support for defence projects is also selectively applied.
The SNP government needs to quickly get a grip of economic and geopolitical reality by formally ditching their juvenile policy of industrial self-sabotage and back Scotland’s advanced manufacturing industrial base, including defence and civil nuclear projects.”
It’s a devastating critique, not just of a policy, but of the SNP’s entire approach to defence-related industry. Sweeney exposes the obvious truth: this so-called principle is applied when convenient and discarded when politically useful. The government has no problem owning a warship-building yard or funding defence-adjacent training in Scotstoun, but the moment the same support is requested for a facility led by Rolls-Royce, it’s suddenly too ethically impure to touch.
Defence Secretary John Healey was equally blunt, branding the SNP’s approach “Student Union politics.” He added: “The welding skills centre isn’t just to support the munitions business. This is about strengthening Scotland’s shipbuilding pipeline and creating essential skills and new opportunities for young people.”
He’s right. This project was about more than steel and sparks. It was about preparing young people for the industries of the future. It was about giving Scotland a place in the next generation of sovereign defence capability. And it was about jobs—good ones—where they’re needed most.
Instead, the SNP would rather wear its principles like a badge of honour, even if those principles leave skilled tradespeople without work, apprentices without opportunity, and Scotland without a seat at the table in national defence.
Thankfully, the UK Government has now stepped in. Labour has confirmed it will fund the centre, saving a critical project that never should have been put in jeopardy in the first place. But this shouldn’t become the norm. Scotland deserves a government that fights for jobs, not one that retreats into moral contortions every time a blueprint features a rivet near a defence contract.
The world is becoming more dangerous, not less. If the SNP truly believes in security and resilience, as it claims to, it’s going to have to face a hard truth: you don’t get that by turning your back on the industries that make security possible.
Maybe if you presented it as a plan to build more campervans………….
They might get a request fom Police Scotland to disclose who they are intended for and justify the order. SNP dont want anymore campervan scandals. An order for 25 campers (£2.5 million) does sound a bit suspicious.
a campervan made in Scotland would take years to build and be obsolete when it was finished plus be almost double in price
The SNP are the epitiny in hypocritical double standards.
indeed the dumbest politicians in the civilised world. an utter joke
To be honest, Scotland has nothing except drug abuse and alcoholism.
Would you employ a trained welder or a piss head?
Wow, that is a complete lie. Scotland has invented so much and some of the oldest universities in the world
a campervan made in Scotland would take years to build and be obsolete when it was finished plus be almost double in price and screwed up almost double it’s universities churn out halfwits and alcoholics
Nah, you’re thinking of Russia there, bud!
If you go outside your little bubble you will see otherwise. Go into a city centre pub and street then it might like like that.
Wow, they must be high functioning alcoholics. Wish I could lay down precision welds after 5 pints of special brew
I am Scottish and I can say that the SNP stance does not represent the view of the majority of Scottish people. Roll on 2026 when we can remove this incompetent, divisive , and wasteful devolved government from power and abolish this devolution as failed and costly experiment.
The second half of your first sentence is not borne out by facts. Parhaps a majority of your social circle echo chamber may think that but there a lots more people elsewhere. What is incompetent? What is waste? Anything and everything you disagree with? Every election is divisive. Labour are divisive. Conservative are divisive, never mind the others especially Reform who have no substance. Anywhere there is a difference of opinion it is divisive. What are you comparing with? Take a look at proper comparisons. What you are saying in your last part is that anything that Westminster does is always good and the best. Statistics do not bear that out. What you are saying is that nobody is allowed to do anything better or different. All governments have weaknesses and failures, all of them. Westminster the home of minority rule and imposition of minority over majority. Anyway, your comment has nothign to do with the thread.
The majority of Scots blame the Westminster parliament for many unpopular policies. Restrictions on tobacco and alcohol are a few examples. My Scottish relatives all curse Westminster for the high prices of beer and cigarettes, not realizing they are SNP imposed.
the SNP, the way it is going will a dusty book on a shelf somewhere consigned to history as a memorable nationalistic folly.
Typical SNP supporter. Any criticism and the usual abuse starts. The people of Scotland had their chance in 2014 and rejected independence. ( Yes I know it was a fix) since then we have had large amounts of Scottish taxpayers money wasted on independence and even larger amounts of money water on pet projects( Bottle return and Ferries. The only good things they have done are No-smoking in pubs and bowel screening. I would agree that the labour and Tories are as equally incompetent but I am willing to give Starmer a chance.
Damaging to future Scottish jobs.
This would be the same SNP that
a. Claims, nay demands that ships for the RN will still be built in Scotland come independence and
b. Is continually complaining that the British Govt is not building enough ships for the RN in Scotland?
No,the SNP did NOT say RN ships will be built in an independent Scotland. They did say is that shipyards are still there. In any event is defence not a collaboration between lost of different nations – most of whom are in the EU?
No, The SNP is NOT continually complaining about not enough ships.
You really need to do a bit of unbiased research before commenting.
From a 2014 UKDJ article “GMB Scotland delegate Alex Logan, a plater at Ferguson Shipbuilders in Port Glasgow, said: “Can I ask the First Minister to give us a guarantee that the shipbuilding industry will continue long-term in Scotland?”
Mr Salmond said: “Yes, we will. The Royal Navy will continue to order ships from Scottish yards, based on that these are the best places to produce these vessels.””
From a 2017 UKDJ article “Douglas Chapman, SNP Spokesperson for Defence Procurement, said today:
“While we welcome today’s long awaited start to cut steel for three frigates, three is clearly not the thirteen promised to the workforce on the Clyde.
Following repeated questioning yesterday the UK government could not confirm the date for the publication of their much vaunted National Shipbuilding Strategy due last year, which would help bring security and clarity to the future of naval Shipbuilding both on the Clyde and at Rosyth.
A key component of a steady stream of work for Scottish Shipbuilding is the new T31e smaller frigate and again yesterday the UK Minister could only say it was still ‘at the design stage’ – where it has been for the best part of two years. It is welcome that the workforce on the Clyde will push ahead of the Type 26 frigate programme. It is absolutely essential that the Clyde retains the skills and experience it has as a world centre of shipbuilding expertise.””
Next time do your own research Nick.
Firstly an off-the-cuff comment cannot be taken as any form of formal statement on a subject as complex as this. The problem is that you have taken that as the definitive answer and more research will show that other clarifications have been issued. And of course it is eleven years out of date! Time and circumstances has moved on. Such political statements hold as much water as do promises to ‘stop the boats’, ‘beat inflation’, ‘solve the housing crisis’, among many others. Political statements and even assertions are invariable aspirational and are out of date within days of being made.
1. On the basis of continuing in the UK then it is a correct statement.
2. Defence being a reserved matter means that regardless of what any devolved politician may say or suggest it actually carries no weight.
3. It refers to ships, not necessarily warships.
4. The yards are, will and would remain open to orders. Placing those orders is nothing to do with devolved administrations the preserve of which remains with the Royal Navy.
5. The statement was also made in the context that the skills and capacity remain available should anyone choose.
6. What is missing from the reported statement is this further clarification meaning ‘can still’ in the context that the yards would not refuse work if it was offered!
7. That ancient statement is several elections out of date, but regurgitated frequently and misquoted and misused, something that social media thrives on. Time moves on!
8. Is Scotland in the UK or not?
“Is Scotland in the UK or not?”
It must be. We build warships there.
To Jon
don’t like replies then?
Yes it was a rhetorical question, but Scotland is not in the UK because of building warships for the Navy! As it stands yes Scotland is part of the UK for the forseeable future, but that doesn’t mean that people in Scotland are not allowed a say in defence matters or to correct misleading and false attributions to people from long ago. Those old historical statements are also irrelevant to affairs today. It also does not mean that even a future Scotland cannot participate in joint shared ventures and projects. if expertise resides in Scotland and not elsewhere in the UK why should the Navy accept second best in a future hypothetical decision? After all we buy and awful lot of defence equipment from across the world, indeed aside from the hulls much of what is installed is part of international collaboration. especially power systems and radars.aircraft, etc, the same for just about everything else across the defence equipment inventory! But it is not up to to any independent country to dictate what our forces may or may not procure and from where. Arguing with certainty about future hypothetical issues is pointless
FOOLS.
Excellent writing George, I like the deprecatory rhythm and the droll deconstruction. More please.
Is the Scottish National Party devolving back into a previous variant; the National Party of Scotland … maybe the 79 Group.
Bring back Stewart McDonald SNP the previous spokesperson for Defence from 2017 to 2022, he understood the situation.
he was another deluded idiot
Be all the SNP’s sins remembered.
To quote Forest Gimp – Stupid is a stupid does.
Very short sighted. Next time one of these initiatives starts watch it go to Newcastle or Liverpool.
It’s been a while since I saw that film but I don’t remember a scene where he was dressed in leathers?
now we know what he was running from 🤐
nobody does stupid, like the SNP does
You say all this and I agree but the Scottish electorate keep returning these half-wits to office. Just think, they wanted to run a country. A **** up in a brewery seems to be more at their level.
Better a half wit than the quarter wits in Westminster! You really need to be very careful of what you wish for. Look south for reasons why!
You miss the point. Scotland needs to play it smarter. The SNP are a failure, that must be obvious to anyone by now. As for Westminister, well they pay the piper, so they choose the tune.
I do not miss the point. What is the real basis for your definition of ‘failure’? And your last comment is EXACTLY why independence remains a major goal for many people! You don’t stop a desire for change by ignoring the rerasoins for that demand! The ONLY way of stopping the demand is to address the failings that give rise to them! I suggest you compare failings with the other highly visible failings at Westminster, compare for real between England (as governed by Westminster) and Scotland (as governed by Holyrood). That means comparing across the devolved disciplines. Things like like finance, economic strategy, defence, drugs, foreign affairs etc are reserved to Westminster, especially the allocations of tax revenues! So Westminster chooses the defence and associated industry tunes! Don’t just repeat a word like ‘failure’ it needs to be put into context and that includes proper and commensurate comparison with elsewhere. It is too easy to repeat a soundbite, much less to work out how realistic it is.
he was another deluded idiot above their level if the performance of the assembly is anything to go by
George the staunch unionist (all things good) and SNP (all thngs bad) hater, uses his personal soap box to go off on one again. You really do need to remove the impartial naming from this site as it seldom is.
George is right and Scotland is a shit*old. it just live in an alternative universr6
Deary me….angry man that can’t type or spell.
What doesn’t seem to have been mentioned in the article or the responses is the real reason for this farce. And it is just one word…nuclear.
which protects Scotland as well as the rest of the U.K
TBH I don’t have much good to say about Labour (or the Tory party for that matter), it is sounds like the government have done the right thing on this occasion. As for the SNP, I do hope that somebody will suggest that whatever work for BAE that was destined for Fergusons will be moved to Lairds or Appledore. Then Fergusons can specialize in making ferries for the SNP.
Er, why does the SNP have a minister for defence procurement? Defence is not part of the remit of the devolved administrations: Perhaps if they focused on their actual jobs, health and education in Scotland would not be such disaster areas.
Because that is a role to cover and respond when appropriate for defence related issues. Everyone, regardless of political persuasion has an involvement in UK defence.
I’m amazed the glorified town that is the Scottish so called parliament has that much say really
SNP is a communist Fifth Column.
My solution would be eliminate the Kingdom of England & go back a few steps. ie break England into 4 (north, central, south & London. Then Scotland, Wales, N.Ireland etc make much more sense. This is how Canada & Australia works. They have laws that prevent an “England” from occurring.