Baroness Goldie
Main Page: Baroness Goldie (Conservative - Life peer)UK-Norway Defence Agreement: Impact in Scotland
Baroness Goldie Excerpts(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Lord Lemos (Lab)
I entirely agree. This is a vote of confidence in the British defence sector, particularly in the world-leading technologies that we have in anti-submarine procurement, as represented in this contract. As for the alliance with Norway, Norway is one of our strongest allies and has been since the Second World War. As I said a moment ago, the relationship in the North Atlantic is obviously crucial, given what my noble friend Lord Robertson said in the strategic defence review.
Baroness Goldie (Con)
My Lords, the previous Government found, as the current Government are finding, that the successful operation of our defence industry partners in Scotland is in spite of the Scottish Government, not because of them. I proffer a suggestion to the Minister: would he care, in conjunction with his colleagues in the MoD, to consider a defence industry forum in Scotland, to which all industry partners and relevant government agencies would be invited, to showcase the excellence of what Scotland is producing for our defence capability, broadening that awareness throughout Scotland and requiring the Scottish Government to explain more clearly exactly what they think their role is?
Lord Lemos (Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness for that question. That sounds like an excellent suggestion and I will certainly pass it on to the Secretary to State. I should be delighted to attend myself; I am looking forward to visiting some of these facilities with my noble friend Lady Curran. I should say that, in Scotland, defence directly employs 4,000 civil servants and 10,000 serving personnel. MoD spending with UK industry and commerce in Scotland in 2024-25 was £2.1 billion, £1.3 billion of which was on shipbuilding and repair, including submarines, and—this is an important point—£23 million of which went directly to SMEs. We are very committed and, as the noble Baroness says, we hope to make sure that the Scottish Government are too.