In November, the 10th secretary general of Nato warned that this country was in grave danger thanks to the threats posed by a wide range of adversaries, from enemy states to cyber criminals. George Robertson said that Britain was “under-prepared, underinsured, under attack and we’re not safe”.

Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, who was also defence secretary from 1997 to 1999 and was a winner of the lifetime achievement prize at this year’s Herald Scottish politician of the year awards, has said, repeatedly, that we are not ready for the crisis that confronts us.

Governments across the UK will have to take his advice seriously as the danger grows, from Russia, China, Iran to organised crime, and crucially, an increasingly unpredictable ally in the US. Donald Trump’s recent national security strategy claimed that Europe is facing “civilizational erasure” and prioritised “strategic stability” with Moscow over countering Russian aggression, as seen in Ukraine for the last four years.

Read more

But what does this mean for Scotland? Defence spending is on the rise in the UK and throughout Europe. Much as we might wish for national rearmament to be unnecessary, the reality of Mr Trump’s demands on Nato countries to raise defence budgets up to the equivalent of 5% of national economic output (GDP) will have consequences at home as well as abroad.

For obvious national security reasons, this extra cash will have to be spent domestically rather than on overseas imports. Indeed, there is an opportunity to use this uplift in public spending to support jobs and investment in national industries, as has been called for by leading defence companies and trade unions.

We are uniquely placed to........

© Herald Scotland