Separate Scottish military would have to ‘start from scratch’

12 Jul 2012

Armed forces in a separate Scotland would have to start from scratch, a leading military expert has said today.

Prof Malcolm Chalmers, of the Royal United Services Institute, has become the latest expert to cast doubt on the SNP’s defence plans.

He said the armed forces would face “building from scratch”, which would leave a separate Scotland with a significantly weaker defence force than it currently has.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said:

“Hardly a week goes by where Alex Salmond’s weakness on defence isn’t exposed.

“The SNP has failed to provide any detail on what a Scottish defence force would look like, and now we hear from one of the country’s leading experts that under separation we would have to build our own Army, Navy and Air Force from scratch.

“The SNP has already refused to detail whether or not Scotland would have Special Forces to protect our oil and gas fields, and his party is mired in confusion about whether or not it wants to be part of NATO.”