The impact of the debate on Scottish independence is putting at risk thousands of jobs in the defence industry, according to Philip Hammond.
The Defence Secretary launched an attack on Scottish National Party (SNP) plans for a future independent defence force during a visit to Edinburgh.
He accused the party of failing to set out coherent proposals with just one year to go before the referendum.
“The nationalists have created a high degree of uncertainty with their plans, blighting the futures of thousands of families across Scotland,” he said.
“By their unwillingness to publish detailed defence proposals, they are doing nothing to dispel those concerns or allay the fears they cause.”
Taking Scotland out of the integrated British armed forces would harm defence in all parts of the UK, he said.
“What little the SNP have published of their plans for the defence of an independent Scotland doesn’t add up,” he said.
“And it does nothing to suggest that the Scottish people would benefit from anything like the level of security the UK armed forces currently provide, or the level of prosperity that Scotland’s defence industry currently delivers.
“My message to the Scottish Government is simple. The debate on the future of defence in Scotland is too important to be ignored, or brushed under the carpet, or fobbed off with half-baked sound-bite policies which are financially and strategically incoherent. The Scottish people deserve facts and answers.”
The Scottish Government proposes a £2.5 billion defence force, assuming a Yes vote in the referendum next September.
Further details of the plan are expected to be contained in the SNP administration’s formal “white paper” on independence in the coming week.