SCOTTISH Greens co-leader Lorna Slater has slapped down a Scottish Tory debate set up to celebrate the country's defence sector.
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser brought forward a motion outlining the "significance of the defence industry to Scotland’s economy".
He called for the Scottish Government to change its policy that blocked a Scottish Enterprise grant being handed to Rolls-Royce for a naval welding skills centre in Glasgow for submarine construction.
But Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said the Government wouldn't be changing its "principled" stance.
During the debate, Slater said Scotland's money should not be spent on companies involved in arms dealing and manufacture, as she hit out at £8 million handed out by Scottish Enterprise to 13 arms companies since 2019, many of which have supplied military equipment and weapons to Israel during its assault on Gaza.
This includes £1.1m being handed to Thales UK in 2022 and £600,000 to Raytheon Systems in 2021-22 – both of which supply weapons to Israel.
The Scottish Government has always maintained that the funding does not go directly to the production of munitions, and that the "due diligence" checks are thorough.
Slater said she "couldn't believe" she was having to call for public money not to go to "mega corporation arms dealers".
"We know that at least £8 million in Scottish Enterprise grants have been awarded to companies involved in arms dealing and manufacture since 2019," she said.
"We know that a number of these business have directly supplied weapons and military equipment to Israel during its assault on Gaza.
"Genocide, war crimes, more than 60,000 people killed. I hope we all agree our government should not be spending money on these things."
She went on "If a company has profited from the sale of arms and weapons to countries complicit in war crimes and genocide, then it should not receive public money from the Scottish Government.
"It is not clear to me at all that these mega corporations need our public money.
"Every pound of public money needs to be spent carefully. We need to make sure public money goes to building wealth in Scotland. We need to make sure it isn’t going into the pockets of multi-national mega corporation arms dealers. I kind of can’t believe I have to be saying this.
"Every pound of public money spent in the arms industry is a pound spent on misery, death and suffering. Scotland deserves better."
The Ferret revealed that no companies have ever failed Scottish Enterprise's human rights checks – which were introduced in 2019 after criticism of the previous regime.
The Scottish Government has said it will review Scottish Enterprise's human rights checks, and Slater urged ministers to report back at pace.
"We need the Scottish Government to urgently report on this review and to provide Scottish Enterprise with a clear direction on the use of public funds to ensure that Scotland is meeting its international obligations," said Slater.
Meanwhile, speaking in the debate, Forbes said her government viewed the defence sector as a strategically important part of the economy, supporting more than 14,000 jobs.
She said the Scottish Government has provided £90 million to aerospace, marine, space and defence companies since 2006.
This money has focused on skills and diversification into civilian technologies, the Deputy First Minister said.
“We also hold principled positions on how limited devolved public money is used”, she said.
“Our clear and longstanding policy is that scarce devolved funds should not be used to directly support the manufacture of munitions.”
The Government’s amendment in the debate stated that defence is a reserved matter and “public money should focus on diversification”.
Last week, the Scottish Government was accused of a "lack of transparency" over its failure to give an update on the review by Amnesty International.
Neil Cowan, Amnesty International UK's Scotland programme director, said it would be "unacceptable" for ministers not to be updated on the review before the summer recess.
