UK Navy Chief warns of MoD chaos in the event of Yes vote

“We’ll be too busy arguing among ourselves to be fighting our real enemies.”

The man who used to be head of the Royal Navy believes a Yes vote will torpedo any hope of defending a divided realm in an increasingly dangerous world.

Former security minister Admiral Lord West has warned a vote in favour of independence will leave both Scotland and the UK exposed and make it harder to defeat Islamic State terrorists and tackle the threat from a rampant Russia.

In a last ditch plea to Scotland to stay with the UK he said separation would be a “catastrophe” for the entire nation’s defence.

And he accused the British government of “burying its head in the sand” by refusing to draw up contingency plans for an SNP win on September 18, particularly as the polls tighten and that outcome looks possible for the first time.

He said: “A Yes vote would be little short of a catastrophe from a military point of view. It would make it more difficult to defend Britain.

“It would be harder to tackle the threats we face, it would diminish these islands, diminish Nato and the West’s ability to do things.”

Last month the Home Secretary raised the threat level in the UK to severe in light of the growing menace of Iraq’s Islamic State run by fundamentalists who have already beheaded two Western hostages.

Last night Lord West warned that following a Yes vote the governments in both London and Edinburgh would be too busy arguing over the fallout to mount effective security operations.

The former head of the Royal Navy said: “This will occupy the Ministry of Defence completely. They won’t be able to think of doing any fighting anywhere in the world while the negotiations take place. Only if someone is marching across Europe providing a direct threat they might think about it. The same people who make the decisions about which ships to deploy and which forces to send where will be focused on how much it’s going to cost to move ships south, which ships will belong to Scotland, things like that.”

He’s been backed up by the chairman of the Defence Select Committee and former UK envoy to Iraq, Rory Stewart. The Tory MP said: “If there’s a Yes vote Britain will waste the next 10 years arguing over taxes and submarines and debt and defence. It would be a colossal waste of energy and time. Instead of reaching out to the world and working to make the world safer and more prosperous we would turn inwards.”

And Stewart also warned that the decision not to draw up contingency plans may not have been the correct one.

Successive Defence Secretaries have stated the Ministry of Defence has no plans for the event of independence even though the SNP insist one of their first actions would be to order Trident nuclear missiles out of the Clyde.

He said: “The UK Government made a calculation that it wants to show respect and confidence in Scotland. But it’s taken a risk.”

Admiral Lord West added: “It’s amazing no one at the MoD has done any planning. The government has taken a head-in-the-sand attitude. If I was still First Sea Lord I’d have broken the rules and drawn up plans. Heaven knows what the current First Sea Lord is up to.”

Lord West, who headed up Gordon Brown’s counter terrorism plans as security minister, pointed to the threat from the Islamic State in Iraq as an example.

“The Scots are not some repressed minority. The threat from Islamic State is far worse than that from any government based in London.”

And Lord West revealed that the UK government blocked an attempt to get all the leaders at last week’s Nato summit in Wales to make a joint plea to Scotland to stay in the UK.

He said: “If Nato believe independence would be damaging maybe Scots ought to know.”

He is also hugely sceptical of Dame Mariot Leslie’s belief the other 28 Nato allies would see it in their interests to welcome an independent Scotland into Nato. Dame Mariot the recently retired UK ambassador to Nato revealed earlier this week she was voting Yes.

But Admiral West said: “The implications are huge. I think Mariot Leslie was speaking a big disingenuously when she said Scotland would be welcomed into Nato. Others have made it clear to Alex Salmond he would have to join the queue. The idea Scotland could sign up to Nato then force another member to move its nuclear deterrent which is a key part of Nato defence is unheard of.”

Lord West claims the debate around defence has been hampered by the political atmosphere in Scotland. He explained: “It’s almost like a madness raging in Scotland. They are not willing to listen to what anyone outside Scotland is willing to say.”

The intervention by Tory Rory Stewart and Labour peer Lord West echoes that of former MI6 chief Sir John Scarlett who last week rubbished the SNP’s plans for intelligence services and claimed the country would be less secure under independence.

However the SNP have dismissed Lord West’s comments and called on him to apologise.

SNP Defence spokesman Angus Robertson said: “These are highly offensive comments from a former Labour minister who presided over massive cuts to defence personnel and capabilities in Scotland.

“He should do the decent thing and apologise.

“The fact is that an independent Scotland will work constructively with allies across the British Isles and in Nato to tackle the threats we face based on the precepts of international law rather than the dangerous adventurism which led Westminster into the disastrous and illegal Iraq war.”

Ex army chiefs call for No vote

Meanwhile, six more military chiefs have added their voices to warnings that Scotland is safer in the UK.

The former soldiers who each commanded the Army’s 2nd Division, putting them in charge of soldiers across the whole of Scotland and north England, have signed an open letter in which they state: “We passionately believe that the people of Scotland will be stronger and more secure if we remain part of the United Kingdom.”

And they accuse the SNP of “irresponsibly” weakening the defence of the whole of Britain with their plans to break away.

The six Scots who were General Officers Commanding of the 2nd Division are Major General Andrew Mackay, Major General Euan Loudon, Lt General Sir Norman Arthur, Major General Mark Strudwick, Lt General Sir Peter Graham and Lt General Sir John MacMillan.

In the joint statement they say that service personnel from all corners of the UK have a rich shared military history and warn defence jobs in Scotland would be under threat following a Yes vote.

Major General Andrew Mackay, who was also Commander British and Coalition forces in Helmand, Afghanistan, in 2007/08, said: “A country’s defence interests have always been strengthened through defence and security unions.

“Despite significant internal opposition it is why the SNP voted to join NATO. It is also why we are strengthened by the collective defence offered by the Union we have.”