SCOTLAND'S PARTY LEADERS FIGHT FOR DEFENCE JOBS

From: The Scottish Government


October 1, 2010


First Minister and party leaders meet Secretary of State for Defence in
London


In an unprecedented show of unity, the First Minister and all three main
opposition party leaders met today with the Secretary of State for
Defence Liam Fox in London, as part of their cross-party campaign to
protect defence jobs and skills in Scotland.


The Scottish Government and leaders of the main opposition parties -
Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats - repeated their call
for the UK Strategic Defence and Security Review to carefully consider
the socio-economic implications for Scotland of any decisions.


The meeting followed the publication of a joint submission to the Review
last week that made the case for safeguarding Scottish jobs and skills.


Following today's meeting, the First Minister and Scotland's opposition
party leaders released this joint statement:


"The Scottish Government and Holyrood party leaders today reinforced the
clear need to protect Scottish jobs and skills, including the vital
carriers contracts and RAF bases and army footprint across Scotland.


"Scotland's cross-party campaign to protect defence services signifies
the importance of the industry to communities across the country. There
is a compelling case for jobs and skills in Scotland to be protected and
we have made our strong, united argument with the Defence Secretary.


"Scotland's different political parties put their differences to one
side, including defence strategies, to argue the strongest possible case
for the social and economic importance of defence jobs across Scotland.


"We felt that we were making the right arguments at exactly the right
time to advance the Scottish cause in our campaign to protect our
defence services and to achieving a successful outcome for Scotland."


Background


The joint submission to the review:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/defence/crosspartysubmission