Swinney called out over ‘abdication of responsibility’ on Trump bombing flights
The First Minister has been criticised by Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie following his speech at SNP conference in which he implied the SNP could only ban US and Israeli military flights after independence, despite having the powers to block them from publicly owned airports such as Prestwick and Wick now.
In his speech, after calling for an end to the bombing of Iran, Mr Swinney said “With independence, we will ban any foreign military power engaged in illegal conflicts from our shores.”
Responding, Patrick said:
“The SNP are happy to brief the press and tell voters that they're standing up to Israel and the US, but in reality they are dragging their heels and kicking any real action into the long grass.
“We do not have the powers of an independent nation, but that doesn't stop us from using the ones we do have, such as a choice over which militaries use our publicly-owned airports.
“This is a clear abdication of responsibility from a party who claim to stand up for Scotland. We all know that these military flights to Prestwick are to aid the illegal and immoral assault on Iran, and the lack of immediate action from the government is simply not good enough.
“In 2024 we were told that Israeli forces were blocked from using Prestwick. Was the government misleading us when they said it then, or are they misleading us now when they claim that they can't do the same to Donald Trump’s forces?
“The Scottish Government must stop the excuses and urgently use the powers that they already have to ban US forces from Prestwick Airport and all publicly owned airports.”