Scottish investment bank should be able to fund defence firms, says Murray

The Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) should be able to invest in defence companies, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray has said.

The UK Government has announced plans to increase defence spending to 2.5%, rising to 3% in the next parliament.

This week, former SNP MP Stewart McDonald said the bank – which is funded by the Scottish Government – should be able to invest directly in arms firms.

But the Scottish Government rejected such a proposal, saying the investment would not match the SNIB’s “missions” of addressing climate change, transforming communities or scaling up tech innovation.

Following a speech and Q&A session in Edinburgh on Friday, Mr Murray agreed the bank should be allowed to invest in the country’s defence sector.

“The Scottish National Investment Bank can’t (invest in defence) because of politics in Scotland,” he told the PA news agency.

“As I said in the speech and in the questions afterwards, it isn’t credible in terms of the defence position the current Scottish Government has and they have to back the Scottish defence industry.

“That increase to 2.5% of GDP, obviously there’s a whole host of arguments and reasons for it on the global stage, but actually when you distil it down to economic development, it’s about jobs and growth in the defence industry in Scotland.

“We’re well placed to take advantage of that and we should be doing everything in our possible power to make sure we are taking advantage of it.”

Responding to Mr McDonald’s calls on the Holyrood Sources podcast this week, a spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “All investments from the SNIB must deliver both commercial returns and support at least one of the bank’s missions: addressing the climate crisis, transforming communities, or scaling up innovation and technology.

“In line with policy, the bank does not invest in organisations that are primarily engaged in the manufacture of munitions or weapons.”