Vital assets in Scotland’s waters are not being “adequately protected” because of “disproportionate” UK Government spending on nuclear weapons, John Swinney has claimed.
With the waters around Scotland home to both North Sea oil and gas infrastructure, as well as offshore wind farms, the Scottish First Minister said the UK needs to “reshape” its defence priorities in the wake of the “threats we face from Russia under the Putin regime”.
He spoke out after a Russian warship was understood to have fired a warning shot at a yacht that came near it in the English Channel.
The incident, which took place at around 11.40am on Tuesday, is understood to have involved the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich in the sea between the Isle of White and Normandy, and marked the latest sign of rising tensions between the UK and Vladimir Putin’s country.
Meanwhile, the First Minister was pressed about the risk to vital “energy infrastructure” in Scotland’s waters.
SNP backbencher Dawn Black raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions in the wake of industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) calling for oil platforms, wind turbines and similar to be designated as “critical national infrastructure”.
With the UK facing threats that are “evolving rapidly”, it pointed out such structures are far from security services and far from “immediate military support”.
Angus MSP Ms Black claimed that “the Westminster UK Government has failed for years to properly invest in adequate defence provision in our North Sea, leaving our energy infrastructure vulnerable”.
She asked the First Minister if he agreed “that it is urgent that additional defence investment is directed towards the North Sea as a priority”.
Mr Swinney told her that while Scotland has “huge coastline interests and maritime interests around the coast” these were “not adequately protected because of the disproportionate investment that is made by the UK Government in weapons of mass destruction”.
The SNP leader insisted there must be a “shift in UK priorities to protect our coastline”.
This, he said, would make sure that in the north of Scotland “we have actually got some capability to stand up to the threats we face from Russia under the Putin regime”.
But the First Minister stressed this requires the UK to “reshape our defence priorities”.
To achieve this, he suggested, there should be “greater investment in maritime conventional defence forces” combined with the ending of UK spending on nuclear weapons, with Mr Swinney stating this “would for me be a far more sensible defence strategy for this country”.
The UK Government has been contacted for comment.
