Under-fire Defence Secretary Liam Fox has been branded “a coward” for not visiting Leuchars after announcing this week that the RAF base there will close to make way for a new army headquarters.
Just hours after the announcement, Dr Fox sped to Moray to join the celebrations at RAF Lossiemouth the base he saved at Leuchars’ expense. As revealed in Wednesday’s Courier, furious campaigners wasted no time in accusing him of an “extraordinary snub.”
Carroll Finnie, who chairs Leuchars Community Council, said, “He came to RAF Leuchars to speak to the high heid yins and then shot off again. He wouldn’t speak to us. We asked him to make any meeting here, or down south, and he never answered us.
“So yesterday, when he went to Moray, oh Jesus, you should have heard the people here. Compared to what they called him, what I called him was very polite.”
Mrs Finnie also doubted First Minister Alex Salmond’s previous commitment to keeping RAF Leuchars open, and said this perception may have implications for his forthcoming referendum on Scottish independence.
She said, “I can’t speak for other people, but my personal opinion is that Mr Salmond came here and spoke to the people of Leuchars and said he is fighting for two bases. However, I think, as far I could see, his heart was really up north.
“So whether people would vote for independence under these circumstances I just don’t know.”
Community members want to know the length of the transition period between the departure of the RAF and the arrival of the army amid concerns that it could be up to two years. Mrs Finnie said two years without an MoD presence would “ruin the small businesses for sure.”
Fife Council leader Peter Grant said there is also “understandable concern” within the surrounding communities that Leuchars will become “a stereotypical garrison town.”
He said, “This can have its benefits, but I think we have to be honest and say there are some aspects of life in a garrison town that don’t appeal to everybody. If you’ve got 1000 soldiers who go on weekend leave, where do they go, what do they do, and who is responsible for making sure that they behave?”
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“Clearly if they are going to behave themselves they will be very welcome indeed. But the experience of some garrison towns is that there can sometimes be problems.”
Campaigners insist Dr Fox should have come to Leuchars for a face-to-face meeting with the service people whose lives will be transformed by his decision.
North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell piled further pressure on Dr Fox, accusing him of causing “great upset” in the local community.
Sir Menzies has written to the defence secretary, urging him to make a personal appearance in Fife to explain the rationale behind a decision that has caused “considerable disappointment” among local servicemen and women.
“As you predicted in the House of Commons on Monday, the decision that the Royal Air Force is to withdraw from RAF Leuchars has caused great upset in the local community,” Sir Menzies wrote.
“All ranks at the base itself understand that their duty is to accept the decision of the Ministry of Defence and to fulfil their orders to the best of their ability. However, I have reason to believe that among many of them there is also considerable disappointment.”
Dr Fox’s trip to Moray has, Sir Menzies said, done nothing to dampen the ire of campaigners in Fife.
“These feelings in the community and on the base will, I fear, be exacerbated by the fact that you decided to visit RAF Lossiemouth, which is to be maintained as an airbase, but not Leuchars, which is to cease to be part of the RAF.”
Sir Menzies pointedly noted that Dr Fox only paid a very short visit to Fife during the basing review which culminated in Monday’s dramatic announcement.
“I recall that you were able to pay only a brief visit to RAF Leuchars during the consideration of the future of the bases on a day when you had other duties in Glasgow in relation to the aircraft carriers,” he wrote. “I hope, therefore, that you will find it possible to make an early and extended visit to RAF Leuchars to meet and to discuss with those stationed there the rationale for the decision about the future of the base and the timetable which they can expect to follow.”
Dr Fox has insisted that Scotland has come out of the UK Government’s defence review as a “handsome winner.” He said an additional 2500 military personnel would be posted in Scotland in future.
Typhoons are expected to leave their current home in Leuchars for Lossiemouth in 2013. However, there is still intense speculation and mounting concern as to the exact timetable for the army’s arrival in Fife.