Expert says Scotland would still rely on UK for intelligence services after independence
ByPress Association
Former army officer Stuart Crawford says an independent Scotland would still rely on the GCHQ in CHeltenham for intelligence.
An independent Scotland would have to rely on the rest of the UK for intelligence services, a defence expert has said.
Stuart Crawford, a former army officer who co-authored a Royal United Services Institute report on how Scotland could defend itself if it quit the union, said there was no question of GCHQ – the eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham – being replicated north of the border.
“It’s far too expensive,” he told MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee.
An independent Scottish government, lacking its own intelligence system, would therefore be unlikely to deny Britain the continued use of facilities on its territory, he added.
Asked whether Scotland would be dependent on the UK’s goodwill, he said: “Goodwill or treaty obligations, or other obligations.
“I’m conscious that there are some elements of the UK’s intelligence gathering system which are already north of the border.”
British facilities on Scottish soil were “very useful to UK intelligence, in terms of various movements”.
“If that was the case then Scotland would not wish to deny the use of those facilities to the rest of the UK,” he said.
Expert says Scotland would still rely on UK for intelligence services after independence
