“UK Government Papering Over Defence Cracks” says Stevenson

Stewart Stevenson, SNP MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast used the Scottish Parliament’s Ministerial Question time to highlight the bitterness among people in Moray at the UK Government’s closure of RAF Kinloss.

Mr Stevenson highlighted the damage the UK Government’s reckless defence cuts will do to Scottish Communities, and reiterated that small increases in personnel numbers take no account of the P45s being dished out by the UK Administration, which will negate any increases.

Keith Brown, Scottish Government Minister for Veterans answered

“That is the background against which the statement [was] made by the UK Government. We have seen a vast number of redundancies. We are told by the MOD that there will be 5,000 more redundancies across the UK—1,000 may perhaps come from Scotland.

“It is absolutely the case that Scotland will lose out badly, not least because, as Stewart Stevenson has mentioned, the cuts take money out of local communities. If you reduce a base that was supposed to have 1,500 personnel to 900, you are removing a huge chunk of finance from that local community. The decision will have an impact on Scotland socially and economically.”

Commenting afterward Mr Stevenson said

“I am grateful for the continued support of the Scottish Government amidst the swingeing defence cuts from Westminster. The UK Government are rapidly dismantling the armed services in Scotland and are papering over these cracks with meagre troops deployments which will not replace the importance of installations like Kinloss to communities and the local economy.

“Only a Yes vote in 2014 will allow the people of Scotland to take control of our own defence matters, and instead of wasting billions on nuclear weapons, we can properly invest in the servicemen and women who keep us safe.”