Latest Press Releases
| MOD BRANDED ‘UNFIT FOR PURPOSE’ OVER CUTS AND CLOSURES |
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| Tuesday, 01 March 2011 00:00 |
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SNP LEAD DEFENCE DEBATE AS UK ANNOUNCE REDUNDANCIES
Leading a Westminster debate on the 'UK Military Basing Review' today (Tuesday) the SNP branded the MoD “unfit for purpose” over the way it manages the closure and realignment of military facilities. The SNP debate comes as the UK Government reveal details of 17,000 redundancies across the armed services. SNP Westminster leader and Defence spokesperson Angus Robertson demanded major changes to the way the UK Government addresses military base closures, contrasting the MoD approach with that of the United States government who retain an expert commission to examine base closures and automatically support communities affected. Presently the UK basing review is considering issues including: the return of nearly 20,000 UK service personnel from Germany and a downsizing of RAF bases in the UK. The UK Government has already announced the closure of RAF Kinloss in Moray, and there are concerns that further RAF bases are at risk, including RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Leuchars. Speaking after the debate Mr Robertson said: “ We need a totally new approach to military base closures, because the way the Ministry of Defence manages these decisions right now is failing and unfit for purpose. Decisions are taken in secret with little or no independent oversight and the communities impacted by closure decisions are left unsupported. “ We have had next to no official information from the Ministry of Defence about the review, which is in stark contrast to countries like the United States where there is a transparent process with democratic oversight and which takes proper responsibility over the impact that decisions have on defence communities. “ And we get no answers from the Ministry of Defence over why there has been a concentration of defence spending, manpower and basing in the south of England – leaving Scotland with a £5.6billion defence underspend and 10,500 fewer defence jobs since the last defence review. Ministers must explain the defence rational why Scotland is suffering disproportionate defence cuts. “ This is an issue of pressing importance to the whole defence community, service personnel and their families as well as communities across the UK which are currently home to military facilities. “ The area I represent in Parliament is the most defence dependent region in the country and Moray has already been rocked by plans to shut RAF Kinloss and the unprecedented threat of a double RAF base closure remains, with a risk to RAF Lossiemouth. “ Given these circumstances it is unsurprising that an ever growing number of people in Scotland are now asking why we don’t make our own defence decisions like other normal nations. “ It is clear to most people that if, in an independent Scotland, we were to spend the tax revenue we currently contribute to the MoD we would have more bases, more equipment, more service personnel and more jobs in Scotland. We would also be able to support conventional defence properly rather than waste it on a Trident nuclear weapons system that can never be used.” |
