RUTH Davidson has been criticised for hosting an “immoral” arms trade event at Holyrood.
The Scottish Conservative leader arranged for the defence industry trade body, the ADS Group, to hold a reception in the exclusive restaurant used by MSPs on Tuesday evening.
The ADS Group represents around 1,000 UK businesses in the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors, including BAE Systems and Raytheon, which respectively make the planes and bombs being used by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
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The two-hour reception for “MSPs and invited guests” was billed as: “An opportunity to raise the awareness of the work that [ADS] member companies do in the areas of their contribution to the Scottish Economy, the nation’s rich engineering heritage and the shared aim of sustaining that heritage through the development of young apprentices.”
Ms Davidson and six other Tory MSPs, as well as the SNP’s economy secretary Keith Brown, also posed with apprentices in the Holyrood chamber as part of the event.
Ms Davidson later tweeted she had been “delighted” by the event, while ADS claimed more than 100 of Holyrood’s 129 MSPs attended.
The organisation tweeted: “Great turnout at last night’s ADS Scotland Parliamentary Reception – over 100 parliamentarians & industry reps including 40+ apprentices”.
Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie has now written to the Holyrood’s presiding officer and chief executive to complain about the use of the premises for the event.
In his letter, he said: “We believe that the use of parliamentary resources to host controversial groups such as arms industry bodies is immoral and reflects poorly on the reputation of the Scottish Parliament.”
Mr Harvie also asked the parliament to prove the event had met its own criteria for MSP events, and asked that “instances such as this one can be avoided in the future”.
A Tory spokesman said: “The event was to promote science and engineering and was attended by universities and dozens of apprentices – hardly merchants of death.
“Keith Brown spoke at the event on behalf of the Scottish Government. It’s exactly what parliamentary receptions should be, and this pathetic whine is tiresome and misleading.”
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An ADS spokesman said the industries its represents provide jobs and growth across the UK. He added: “We routinely engage with a number of stakeholders including parliamentarians.” to ensure they are briefed on the issues, opportunities and challenges affecting these strategically important industries.”
A Holyrood spokesman said the event complied with the criteria for member sponsored events.
“This complied with the Parliament’s criteria for Member sponsored events.”
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