Scottish voters are “in the dark” over the future of their defence capabilities in the event of independence, a prominent Tory MP has said.
The Conservative chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee James Arbuthnot said there were still many unanswered questions over how an independent Scotland would defend itself if voters decided to go it alone.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “At the moment we have no clarity at all as to how the Scottish Government intends that an independent Scotland would be defended.”
He criticised Holyrood’s veterans minister Keith Brown, who he said had failed to provide answers when he came before the select committee.
However, the Scottish MSP insisted that the cost of Scotland defending itself in the event of it breaking away from the UK would not be as high as Mr Arbuthnot suggested.
Mr Arbuthnot said “there would be enormous upheaval and expense” caused by the removal of Trident. He said “quite what would happen, where would it go, how much would that cost, how long would it take” were questions to which there were as yet no answers.
He was unable to estimate on the cost for Scotland, saying current defence in that country was about “an eighth of the £38 billion” currently spent by the UK around £4 billion/£5 billion.