SNP DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM BROWNE
Posted on Friday, November 17 2006
SCOTLAND HIT BY MOD FAILURES IN JOBS, SPENDING, IRAQ AND TRIDENT- 4800 Defence related jobs lost since 1997- Labour's policies on Iraq and Trident will damage Scotland- 10,000 less people employed than Scotland's share, and £420m less spentThe SNP's Shadow Defence Minister Angus Robertson MP today demanded a public apology from the Defence Minister Des Browne for the continued failure of the Ministry of Defence to stand up for Scotland's interests.The call came as Mr Browne came to Scotland to deliver a speech in Glasgow.Speaking prior to the event, Mr Robertson said:"Des Browne should apologise to Scotland for the continued failure of his department to stand up for our interests."Labour has failed Scottish interests on defence matters, and so the SNP will not be taking any lessons from this Minister, flown up on public money to make a party political lecture to Scots."Under Labour almost two thousand, two hundred Ministry of Defence jobs have been lost in Scotland, in addition to over 2,600 in shipyard jobs. Ion top of this, eight military bases and two supply depots have either been run-down or closed under this failing administration."He should also explain why in the most recent year for which figures are available, the MoD employed around 10,000 fewer people, both civilians and service personnel, than Scotland's population share, and has recorded an underspend of four hundred and twenty million pounds (£420m) in procurement in Scotland on the same basis."The evidence is clear, in terms of lost jobs and defence spending Scotland suffers as part of the UK."All this is in addition to Labour's dangerous and unwanted plans for a new nuclear weapons system on the Clyde to replace Trident, and their continued pursuit of the war in Iraq. Rather than playing cheap party politics Mr Browne should be working on a strategy for extricating our brave troops from the quagmire in Iraq, rather than waiting for the US Democrats to change British defence and foreign policy."Mr Browne should make use of this speech to publicly apologise for his department's failures."Scots think it's time for the political debate to move beyond political scaremongering by London Ministers who support Trident and the war in Iraq. People in Scotland think it's time for a change."ENDS
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