David Mundell: Scotland Secretary says country more at risk from terrorism if it becomes independent

The risk of a terrorist attack taking place in Scotland would “greatly increase” if the country became independent due to the inevitable reduction in the strength of its intelligence services and military, the Scotland Secretary has said.

In an interview with The Independent in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris, David Mundell said Scotland was better protected as part of the UK and described the idea that the country would be less of a target for terrorists after separation as “very naïve”.

Mr Mundell, who voted in favour of the UK joining US-led airstrikes against Syria in 2013, also said the Government should examine “what the military options are” to directly combat the terrorist group Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the attacks on the French capital.

“We do live in a very dangerous world, and I think in that world we are better as a United Kingdom, pooling and sharing our resources, than for Scotland to be on its own. Some very naive arguments have been previously set out that somehow if Scotland was on its own it wouldn’t be subject to any international attention or terrorist attack,” he said.

“I just think that’s completely wrong – we’ve seen countries that people would hold out as being on the moral high ground like Sweden and Denmark having very serious incidents. Just because Scotland was on its own wouldn’t make it risk free, in fact I think it would greatly increase the risk because we just wouldn’t have the same capacity as we do in the United Kingdom in terms of our security, in terms of our intelligence services and military backup.”

Mr Mundell said one of the “strongest reasons” for preserving the Union was that the country was able to “pull together” when it was under threat. Emergency situations such as the case of nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who had to be flown to a London hospital after contracting Ebola, showed how effectively the UK and Scottish Governments could respond to danger, he added.

“One message I have for people in Scotland is that on these really serious issues, in relation to this terrorist activity and when we had issues around the Ebola case in Scotland, the UK Government and Scottish Government really do work very closely together. We have that capacity. When it really matters, there isn’t any politicking,” he said.

However, last night the Scottish Government responded angrily to Mr Mundell’s comments, accusing him of trying to make political capital out of the Paris attack. “David Mundell should apologise for these crass and insensitive comments – at a time when there has been widespread international solidarity in the wake of the Paris atrocities, he is using the issue to play constitutional politics,” a spokesperson for Nicola Sturgeon said.

“That is totally unacceptable, and the substance of his claim is also completely without foundation – independent nations large and small, across Europe and beyond, cooperate on intelligence gathering all the time, and Scotland is no different,” they added.

During the interview, Mr Mundell praised Scotland's local councils for agreeing to find houses for the UK's first batch of Syrian refugees, who arrived on 17 November at Glasgow Airport. He said the local authorities should be "commended" for their efforts and that he expected to see more displaced Syrians arriving in the country before Christmas.

Mr Mundell is the only Conservative MP north of the border and was given the job of Scotland Secretary by David Cameron after May's general election. His main task since then has been delivering the devolution of further powers to Holyrood through the Scotland Bill, which recently cleared the House of Commons.

Describing the changes as "very significant", Mr Mundell challenged the SNP to lay out in detail how they would use the legislation to change Scotland. “I think it’s quite striking that the SNP are the one party that has said virtually nothing about what they would do with the powers that are on the way," he said. "At the moment they’re validating the claim that they’re more interested in complaining than taking action.”

He said he hoped that the debate over how the new powers should be used would dominate next year's Scottish Parliament election campaign and attacked the SNP's continued talk of a second independence referendum, which he argued "completely disrespects" the majority of Scots who voted to remain part of the Union and was an "attempt at a distraction" from discussion of the party's record in government.

“Most people I speak to, even if they voted Yes in the referendum, are just tired of the constant focus on constitutional issues," he said. "I think it’s very clear that most people in Scotland – unless they’re hard core nationalists – understand that we’ve had a referendum, we’ve made a decision. Clearly not everybody agreed with that decision, but it’s time to move on.”

Mr Mundell added that the UK Government should spend more time talking up the benefits of Scotland remaining part of the Union, joking that the SNP turned even the smallest local complaints such as "potholes in the road" into an argument for independence. "There is a need, and we do have to step up to the mark in that regard, to be constantly making the case for the United Kingdom. The SNP make the case for independence every day, no matter how minor the issue," he said.