Scotland ‘should not be participating’ in US-Iran conflict, says peer

A Liberal Democrat peer has said Scotland “should not be participating” in the US military’s conflict with Iran.

Lord Jeremy Purvis was speaking on BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show with host Gary Robertson, who discussed John Swinney’s stance on Prestwick Airport being used by the US in the attacks.

Earlier on Sunday, the First Minister had appeared on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg and was asked if he would consider blocking US forces from using the airport.

Mr Swinney said: “That’s something I would explore, yes, but I need the information to enable me to make that decision.”

Lord Purvis said: “I think the focus should be on having authorisation through the UK Parliament.

“There is a very well-established precedent for this, and we should have a vote and debate in the UK Parliament.”

Robertson interjected: “But Prestwick is owned by the Scottish Government, John Swinney does have power over this, although the UK Ministry of Defence says that, as far as they are concerned, Prestwick is not being used.”

The peer replied: “Yes, and of course the military relationship and the military agreement with the United States, with regards to the use of assets across the United Kingdom, not just Prestwick, of course, there’d be other elements where Scotland and Scottish personnel would be part of any offensive actions, if that was so authorised, but up until it is authorised, we should not be participating in the US programmes.

“We should be focusing on defence only, and we should not be supporting any offensive US actions because they are unlawful.”

He added that while the Iranian regime had “murdered scores of thousands of its own people who simply want to have a say in who governs them”, changing the regime “cannot be done with bombing from the sky”.