THE tired old scare story about a Yes vote threatening shipbuilding jobs in Scotland was blown out of the water with the Prime Minister’s recent announcement that the Royal Navy will purchase the Ice Patrol Ship HMS Protector. This is a vessel built in Norway, owned by a Norwegian company and leased to the Ministry of Defence. So much for the claims by the No campaign that the UK wouldn’t buy ‘foreign’ vessels!

Scotland will be well placed to win orders from the UK or elsewhere. The work on the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers in Rosyth will continue, irrespective of the referendum result — according to the UK’s Defence Secretary.

The head of BAE Type 26 programme stated they are looking at a single site solution on the Clyde to build their frigates and all their planning is based on the Clyde, with no plans to move the work elsewhere if there is a Yes vote.

Westminster has not protected shipbuilding jobs in Scotland. In 1979 we were told devolution would risk over 30,000 Scottish shipbuilding jobs, now in 2014 we’re told a Yes vote would risk less than 10,000 jobs — where did the rest of these jobs go?

The simple fact is Westminster doesn’t have a strategic shipbuilding policy. That can change with a Yes vote. The independence windfall — as we save over £600 million per year not paying for items such as trident — would allow Scotland to invest in our infrastructure.

This would include new vessels for Scotland’s defence force as well as ferries to serve our islands.