Exclusive:Holyrood 'trying to over-reach' with debate on arm sales to Israel, Scot Tory MP says

The Scottish Greens will use an opposition debate on Wednesday to hold a vote on ending all Scottish Government support for companies who they say have “armed and supported Israel’s genocide” against Gaza.

Speaking ahead of the debate, Scottish Tory MP John Cooper warned it was an attack on a “delicate chain” and that the defence industry needed to be supported as it is key to the defence of the realm.

He said: “After a shade over three years of conflict in Ukraine, Western stocks of shells – simple artillery is still the ‘queen of the battlefield’, even as it was in the age of Napoleon – missiles and warheads are seriously depleted.

“Replacing them is no easy task. I’ve said in Parliament that it is one thing to order up ammo, and another for suppliers to be able to ramp up to put brass in soldiers’ magazines.

“Raw materials need to be sourced and readied; extra staff may be required; new production lines brought on. It all takes money.

“Making funding for small defence firms even harder to come by – banks’ ethical investment rules already make it a fight – risks that delicate supply chain.”

Mr Cooper, the MP for Dumfries and Galloway, claimed undermining support for the arms industry sends the wrong message, and that foreign sales were important for international security and solidarity.

He said: “Of course, there are attempts at Holyrood to conflate defence of the realm with the ongoing conflict between democratic Israel and the Iranian-backed Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups.

“Arms export regulations sit strictly, though, with the UK Government, and are subject to robust ethical standards.

“So again, Holyrood is trying to over-reach. Any impact is likely to be non-existent on UK defence exports and, in truth, limited on firms here.

“But the signal it sends is troubling. Some seek a hostile environment for the defence firms and workers whose products stand between our forces and annihilation, between our freedom and tyranny.”

Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater dismissed his comments, and argued UK arms sales did not have strict controls. She said: "The Scottish Government is choosing to support some of the biggest arms companies in the world. One of them, BAE Systems, has just reported record profits.

“It is unclear why Mr Cooper believes that the Scottish Parliament is overreaching by debating which companies should and should not get grants from the Scottish Government’s own business unit.

“The Tory party has a long and shameful history of arming despots, dictatorships and human rights abusers around the world.

"The claim that UK arms are strictly controlled will be news to people in Gaza who have been living under the bombardment of fighter jets with UK-made components, and people in Yemen who endured almost a decade of assault by a Saudi regime that was armed and supported by the Tories until a court had to ban them from doing so.

"Our motion proposes concrete and practical steps that can be taken to stand in solidarity with people under fire and curb support for the war profiteers who are making such a killing."