Latest Press Releases
| ROBERTSON SEIZES ON SERVICE CHIEFS NIMROD WARNING |
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| Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:00 |
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SNP Westminster leader and Defence spokesperson Angus Robertson has seized on a top-level warning from service chiefs that scrapping the RAF's Nimrod surveillance aircraft will leave a "massive gap" in British security, former defence chiefs have warned. Mr Robertson represents the Nimrod home base at RAF Kinloss in Moray – which faces closure as a result of the decision to destroy the £4 billion fleet. The warning comes in a letter signed by Marshal of the RAF Lord Craig, the former Chief of the Defence Staff and Chief of Air Staff; Major General Julian Thompson, the commander of land forces in the Falklands conflict; Air Vice-Marshal Tony Mason, the former Air Secretary for the RAF; Major General Patrick Cordingley, the commander of the Desert Rats in the Gulf War; Air Commodore Andrew Lambert, the director of the UK National Defence Association; and Admiral Sir John "Sandy" Woodward. Commenting, Mr Robertson said: “When the service chiefs issue a warning like this, the government must listen and act before its too late. This intervention underlines the fact that the decision to scrap Nimrod was based on cost cutting and not strategic needs. “By scrapping Nimrod, the UK Government are creating a mammoth capability gap and they have no answers about how they will fill that. “The destruction of these state-of-the-art aircraft is an act of gross vandalism and a scandalous waste of £4 billion in public money, but the true cost may be even greater given security and safety implications that the loss of this fleet creates. “The UK is making really bad decisions for defence in Scotland which leave big capability gaps. We should make better defence decisions in Scotland and not leave it to London.” |
