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Bitter Words Over Shipbuilding Future
Scottish parliamentarians increase tensions over independence and shipyards…
A war of words erupted during a heated debate on the future of shipbuilding in Scotland in the Scottish Parliament .
Tempers flew as Labour’s Scottish leader Johann Lamont claimed independence would lead to the ‘death knell’ of Scottish shipbuilding.
She said that union leaders in the industry and shipyards have all raised concerns regarding the future of the Clyde shipyards should Scotland achieve independence following the referendum next year.
Already a political minefield, following BAE Systems decision to close Portsmouth and concentrate all surface build on the Clyde, the future of the Scottish shipyards operated by BAE Systems is proving to be a battleground for hearts and minds in the run up to Scotland’s vote on independence from the UK.
SNP members jeered Ms Lamont with one MSP, Gil Paterson, Clydebank, being called to order as she shouted that Ms Lamont was a ‘disgrace to Scotland’.
The subject of shipbuilding on the Clyde is a potential vote loser and winner on both sides of the debate. Govan constituency has always been a battleground tradtionally between the SNP and Labour and the fortunes of the shipyard weigh heavy on voters minds.
Those in the Yes camp maintain that the UK would not necessarily prevent orders going to Scotland and that BAE System’s decision to base its shipyards in Scotland is an industrial one alone. They also claim that Scotland would need a sizeable navy to protect its interests and participate internationally and that the Clyde would reap the benefits of building a new navy.
Meanwhile in the No camp, any suggestion that the UK would source its naval build from outside the remaining UK is viewed as nonsensical, and they say that a Scottish Navy would be too small to sustain all of Scotland’s naval shipyards on the Clyde and at Rosyth.
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