http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/letters.cfm?id=114892007
Labour has overseen massive erosion of British-owned defence contractors Irrespective of whether one supports independence or not, the response of the Labour government to the SNP's proposals on defence is hypocritical. More so than under any previous government, the erosion of British, let alone Scottish, ownership of defence contractors and suppliers has accelerated sharply. At the same time, the willingness to let contracts to overseas companies has increased to the extent that a United Kingdom-owned firm being awarded a major Ministry of Defence contract is now headline news. In the last week alone, Smiths Industries sold its aerospace business to the United States company, General Electric, and over the last few years a number of other companies have been bought up without a murmur from Westminster. This includes, of course, the BAe Systems units in Edinburgh, which were bought by Finmeccanica, the Italian company which also owns Westland Helicopters, and, surprise, surprise, it still supplies the MoD. And Qinetiq, the former MoD research organisation, which was bought by the US private equity company, the Carlyle Group, has (along with other overseas companies) recently been awarded a £16 billion contract to train UK service personnel. In fact, when BAe Systems let slip recently that it was considering moving its headquarters to the US and becoming a US company, the procurement minister, Lord Drayson, said the government wouldn't stand in the way of such a move. That comment exemplifies how little industrial patriotism means in government circles. There are other similar tales of the ease with which British defence companies have been bought over without so much as a murmur from the government and its predecessors. In fact, BAe, Rolls-Royce, Cobham and Ultra are the last four major defence firms left. All the others, including Plessey, Thorn EMI, Marconi, Pilkington Optoelectronics and Racal have been snapped up by oversea buyers such as Thales, of France, or Siemens, of Germany. It is also worth mentioning that a number of US companies also operate in the UK, including Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Both do very nicely thank you on the back of MoD contracts. It is, therefore, nonsense to suggest as the defence minister, Adam Ingram, has that a UK government would completely reverse its policy on procurement and suggest that projects such as the proposed new aircraft carriers or any other vessels would not be built on the Clyde, simply because Scotland will no longer be part of the Union. If the price is right, this government would buy from anywhere without a second's hesitation, provided the skills and knowledge are of the right quality. As far as the Clyde yards are concerned, that's something Scotland can absolutely guarantee. DICK WINCHESTER Old Rayne Aberdeenshire This article: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/letters.cfm?id=114892007 Last updated: 23-Jan-07 01:01 GMT +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
