Voyager joins military response off Scotland after red, white and blue respray

A resprayed plane used to transport the Prime Minister and the royal family has been called out to support military aircraft in Scotland, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

A week after returning to the skies after being painted with the Union flag, the RAF Voyager joined the Quick Response Action (QRA) with jets from RAF Lossiemouth early on Friday morning.

A spokesman for the MoD confirmed to the PA news agency the plane was involved in the call as Russian aircraft approached UK air space.

But no interception was required during the operation and the Voyager made a return to its base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

A Lossiemouth spokesman said the Voyagers can be tasked to "provide air-to-air refuelling or they can be tasked to transport personnel or freight".

The cost of the respray, confirmed by Downing Street at "around £900,000" and undertaken at an airport in Cambridgeshire, was condemned by opposition politicians when it was revealed last month.

The SNP criticised it as an "utterly unacceptable use of public funds".