A MEETING between an SNP minister and an arms company selling munitions to Saudi Arabia used in the bombing of Yemen is “deeply disturbing,” Labour said today.

Paul Wheelhouse, the Scottish government’s Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, demanded that a trip to Raytheon’s Fife factory be kept secret, according to documents obtained by the Sunday Mail.

The paper also discovered that Raytheon has received nearly £200,000 in taxpayer-funded support from Scottish Enterprise since 2014.

It reported that the arms company met Mr Wheelhouse to lobby for further cash in January and that the minister insisted there be no “comms activity” to reveal his visit to the Glenrothes plant.

The Scottish government, however, claimed that the money was not linked to arms manufacture but was rather intended to help the firm branch out beyond making weapons.

A spokesman said: “The Scottish government and their enterprise agencies do not provide funding for the manufacture of munitions.

“The support provided is focused on helping firms to diversify and develop non-military applications for their technology and ensure Scotland continues to benefit from the thousands of jobs in the defence, aerospace and shipbuilding sectors.”

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: “It is deeply disturbing that an SNP minister met with an arms manufacturer and ordered civil servants not to take any photos or publicise the visit.

“It’s yet another case of the SNP saying one thing in opposition at Westminster but doing the opposite in government at Holyrood.”

Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer said: “The hypocrisy is just stomach-churning, when an SNP government hands public cash to arms manufacturers whose weapons systems are then used to commit war crimes against children in Yemen before giving more public cash to the Yemen Crisis Appeal.

“No donation to charity will wash the blood off their hands and no attempts to keep meetings private or stall Freedom of Information requests will stop the truth from coming out.

“It’s not hard to think of hundreds of better ways to use public money than handouts to an industry built on death and destruction across the world.”