Shadow minister It’s utter hypocrisy
Peter Grant and Douglas Chapman, who represent Fife constituencies, spoke out in the House of Commons last week to demand action from Middle East Minister Alistair Burt.
But the Sunday Mail has revealed how Raytheon in Glenrothes have been handed more than £185,000 of Scottish Government cash despite manufacturing parts for Paveway missiles sold to the Saudis.
The company’s bombs have been linked to alleged war crimes committed by the ultra-conservative Middle Eastern kingdom in Yemen.
A Paveway component identical to one produced by Raytheon was found at the scene of a strike that killed more than 40 children on a school bus in August.
Despite the concerning links between Raytheon and the SNP, Grant challenged Burt in the Commons last Tuesday.
The MP for Glenrothes said: “It beggars belief that anyone could claim that a school bus travelling through a marketplace crowded with civilians could ever be a legitimate military target, but that is precisely what the Saudi Arabian regime did.
“Does the Minister now accept that the previous Government policy of leaving Saudi Arabia to investigate its own crimes is not working, and will the Government support the call from the United Nations Human Rights Council for us to refrain from providing arms that could be used in this dreadful conflict?”
His colleague Douglas Chapman added: “As the minister will know, in the past I have offered help from SNP members to support the work of Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy for Yemen.
“I have also issued a plea for a halt to the bombing and the weapon sales from the UK to Saudi Arabia, and for the envoy to be given space in which to do his work and, indeed, back up some of the great work done by Karen Pierce, our ambassador to the UN, who has asked for a review in the event that an investigation proves flimsy.
“Why is the minister tone deaf to those calls? How many more Yemeni children have to die?”
Former SNP business minister Paul Wheelhouse demanded a visit to the Raytheon factory in January wasn’t photographed and received “no comms activity”.
The SNP’s former Westminster chief of staff Luke Skipper is understood to have been handling the Raytheon account for lobbying giants Weber Shandwick.
Labour’s Shadow Scotland Minister Paul Sweeney said: “It is of course right to question the legitimacy of the target in this dreadful incident and I welcome the minister’s assurances that there will be proper accountability for errors made.
“But the utter hypocrisy of SNP MPs raising this issue while glossing over the Scottish Government’s role in facilitating the supply of the deadly weapon used is breathtaking.”
Green MSP Ross Greer has demanded the Scottish Government clarify whether public funds are being used by Raytheon to produce guidance kits for missiles.
Ministers have repeatedly insisted that they do not fund the manufacture of “munitions”.
Greer said: “It is to the absolute credit of MPs like Peter Grant and Douglas Chapman to raise the UK’s links with Saudi war crimes in the House of Commons.
“Unfortunately, back up here, it’s an SNP Government funding Saudi Arabia’s arms dealer, operating from a factory in the Fife MPs’ own back yard. The questions I’ve lodged are really the tip of the iceberg and I expect clear, unambiguous answers.”
The SNP last night declined to comment.