SCOTTISH SECRETARY CHALLENGED TO TAKE A STANCE OVER ISLAND DEFENCE JOBS

SCOTTISH SECRETARY CHALLENGED TO TAKE A STANCE OVER ISLAND DEFENCE JOBS

MURPHY SHOULD RESIGN IF JOBS NOT SAVED

Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy has been challenged to guarantee the future of 125 defence jobs following the closure of an MoD consultation this week into the future of the rocket test range and its associated sites in the Hebrides.

Highlighting official figures which show 9,500 Scottish defence jobs have been lost since Labour came to power, Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil said the Scottish Secretary should resign his position if his government cut the jobs of workers on South Uist, Benbecula and St Kilda.

Mr MacNeil said:

“There is no doubt that the loss of these jobs would be a hammer-blow for our fragile island economy, and if our community can’t keep these jobs then the Scottish Secretary should resign his.

“A Scottish Secretary worth the title should be standing up for Scottish jobs, but since Labour came to power, more than 9,000 defence jobs have disappeared. These figures expose the lie of the Labour government's claim that they support defence jobs in Scotland. After twelve years in power, almost ten thousand jobs have disappeared.

“As the consultation on the future of another 125 jobs at the missile range in the Hebrides closes, Jim Murphy must should hold the UK government to account. Warm words about Scottish jobs from the Secretary of State are simply not enough – he should guarantee these jobs with his own.

“Labour's record on Scottish defence jobs is rotten, and that is clearly worrying as the consultation on jobs at the Hebrides range closes.

“As the true extent of the devastation of Scotland's defence sector wrought by the Labour Government becomes apparent UK Ministers, starting with the Scottish Secretary, should defend Scotland's defence sector for once.”