Taxpayers’ cash link to Yemen bomb devastating

The significant public subsidies they have received have not made the firm any keener to engage with Scottish taxpayers.

So when they are linked by industry experts to a bomb that killed 40 kids in Yemen, the company’s leaders appear to be in no hurry to clarify its involvement.

Surely then, it’s up to the Scottish Government to provide some transparency over their support for a firm who are an anathema not just to large sections of the SNP’s core support but also, apparently, to their Westminster leader Ian Blackford? You might think so. Instead, former business minister Paul Wheelhouse opted to keep his trips to the firm away from all media in order to minimise public scrutiny. As well he might.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the Scottish Government put a small amount of meat on the bones, stating Scottish Enterprise do not provide funding for the manufacture of munitions. The fact Raytheon are a diverse international firm allows this weasel- worded claim to be made.

But even if the public grant was spent solely on cupcakes and coffee for staff, it still ultimately benefits the company in their core business – including making components for bombs which kill scores of kids in war zones.

Their explanation so far just doesn’t wash.

So it is only correct that further questions should be asked of Nicola Sturgeon and her ministers on this issue.

Particularly given the stance the SNP have taken on UK arms firms.

Their own policy states: “SNP MPs have led the calls for resolution of the destructive conflict in South Yemen.

“Given the clear evidence that munitions supplied by the UK have been used in breach of international law, there should be an immediate ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia pending proper investigation .”

That simply doesn’t square with ministerial meetings at the firm’s HQ and huge grants from Scottish Enterprise.

The picture of a teenager in Yemen holding up a fragment of what remains of the bomb that killed 51 and wiped out the bus, visible only as a shell in the background, is devastating.

The thought that, in all probability, it included components off a production line in Fife is difficult to stomach.

And the idea that its manufacture was assisted by Scottish taxpayers is quite simply horrifying.

The former business minister opted to keep his trips to the firm away from the media