Scottish Parliament – Feb. 26, 2025 – 1

S6M-16571.3: As an amendment to motion S6M-16571 in the name of Lorna Slater (Scottish Enterprise Funding for Arms Companies), leave out from first “notes“ to end and insert “reiterates its unwavering support for the ceasefire in Gaza, for the calls for all efforts to be made to ensure an extension of the ceasefire, for humanitarian aid to reach people in Gaza, and for the remaining hostages to be released;

recognises and supports the humanitarian assistance that the Scottish Government has provided to the people of Gaza;

calls for recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution;

recognises that Scottish Enterprise does not provide funding for the manufacture of weapons or munitions;

notes that Scottish Enterprise operates a human rights due diligence process in the awarding of any funding;

recognises that responsibility for issuing licences for the export of arms is reserved to the UK Government;

calls for the suspension of arms exports to Israel, and does not believe that any public funding should be going to supply arms to Israel.”

Original motion(S6M-16571): That the Parliament notes with concern that at least £8 million of Scottish Enterprise grants have been awarded to 13 companies involved in arms dealing and manufacturing since 2019, including £700,000 to Leonardo and £500,000 to Raytheon Systems;

further notes that a number of these businesses have directly supplied weapons and equipment to Israel during its assault on Gaza;

understands that, despite this, no company has failed the current Scottish Enterprise human rights due diligence checks;

believes, therefore, that the current due diligence process at Scottish Enterprise is failing to ensure that Scotland upholds its international obligations, and calls on the Scottish Government to end all public funding to companies complicit in the arms trade with Israel.