£8,367,691 since 2021
The Scottish government’s funding body, Scottish Enterprise, has provided over £8 million in public grants to multi-billion-pound arms companies that profit from conflict and repression. This is despite budgets being slashed across crucial public services and thousands of people living through a cost-of-living crisis in Scotland.
Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza is beyond catastrophic. Israel is committing war crimes amounting to genocide against the Palestinian people and companies in receipt of funds from the Scottish public purse are reaping the profits from the death of Palestinian children.
Morally bankrupt
The Scottish government claims to champion human rights and yet continues to line the shareholder’s pockets of Leonardo, Raytheon and Chemring. These companies do not align with the values of the Scottish parliament or the people they represent; the majority of Scots do not support the genocide we are witnessing in Palestine, nor do they support the bombardment of Yemen – while companies like BAE Systems and Thales still profit from all this death and destruction.
The policies and priorities of Scottish Enterprise and its partner bodies, including Highlands and Islands Enterprise, desperately need an extensive review as their so-called ‘Human Rights Due Diligence’ checks are clearly not fit for purpose. Each arms company that has received funding from the Scottish government are also profiting from, and exporting arms to, countries on the FCO’s Human Rights Priority list.
Have your say now.
- Use the tool below to write to the First Minister, Humza Yousaf, and the new Minister for Small Business, Trade and Innovation, Richard Lochhead, and demand that arms companies not receive a penny more from the taxpayer and that Scottish Enterprise implements actual accountability measures and a new, functional, Human Rights Due Diligence checklist that does not fund warmongers.
- Download and share the resources below: email the leaflet to your elected representative, cover your community with the stickers and hand out the postcards at your next demonstration.
If you would like physical resources posted to you from our office in Glasgow please get in touch with [email protected]
