UK Government officials including armed forces minister Nick Harvey will meet a Fife MP following allegations that the defence review which could spell the end for RAF Leuchars has descended into a “shambles.”
Dunfermline and West Fife MP Thomas Docherty will demand that the entire strategic defence and security review be “frozen.”
He accused the government of being “totally unprepared” for the consequences of the swingeing cuts they are set to implement.
Leuchars, Lossiemouth in Moray and Marham in Norfolk all face the axe as a result of Westminster’s strategic defence review.
There have been suggestions that any base forced to close will be replaced with an army barracks, housing soldiers returning from Germany.
However, Mr Docherty insists that no thought has been given to the infrastructure implications or potential timing of such a move.
The MP told The Courier that the government’s battle to balance the books is based on “flawed” principles and said no preparations had been made to deal with the aftermath of closures.
The Courier understands he will spell out his concerns at a high-level meeting with figures including Mr Harvey.
Chief among Mr Docherty’s gripes is the belief that the review has been “Treasury-driven”, with defence needs taking a back seat.Not ‘correct defence decisions’Mr Docherty said, “I want defence ministers to explain their reasoning for the choices they have made, particularly on base closures.
“I also want a justification for the implementation of what has been a Treasury-driven defence review.
“The UK Government is completely unprepared for the consequences of closing bases.”
He added, “It is clear that the flawed SDSR must be reopened and be driven by defence criteria rather than the Treasury.
“It is completely ridiculous that our service personnel are left in limbo over the future of their base while British forces are engaged in military action in Libya.”
Mr Docherty insists a “fresh” defence review is required.
He said, “Each government, over the past 40 or 50 years, has reconfigured our armed forces structure to best suit the challenges as they have seen them, but never before have we seen one so radical and based not on the nation’s defence needs, but on the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s needs.
“There is great concern that decisions are being made not by the MoD, but by the Treasury… therefore those decisions are not being made because they are the correct defence decisions but because they are the most expedient or financially convenient.”
Mr Docherty said that he has spent the last few months becoming “increasingly dismayed” by the proposed cuts.
“I have been to every debate about the bases and it has become obvious that the plan the MoD has is that the facilities to close will become army barracks,” he told The Courier.
“However, the infrastructure requirements are totally different.”‘Devastating’ impactHe added, “There are 18,000 soldiers due to come back to the UK from Germany.
“When they come home quite a lot of soldiers will be leaving the army but say, for argument’s sake, 10,000 soldiers and 4000 children have to come home along with a number of spouses.
“If you take RAF Marham or Lossiemouth or Leuchars, they simply do not have 4000 school places.
“There is no way that the RAF could march out on a Monday morning and the army march in on the Monday afternoon.”
Mr Docherty said, “I have asked the MoD what discussions they have had about schooling capacity and they basically said there had been none at all.
“It is a shambles if they want to move army regiments back to the UK and on to RAF bases they need to know what schooling is available.”
Although D-Day for Leuchars and the other bases is looming, Mr Docherty insists it is not too late to delay closures at least until infrastructure problems have been ironed out.
He said, “The Treasury would simply shut RAF bases immediately and then rebuild capacity for the army.
“Realistically this would take until the middle of the decade… and the impact on local communities would be devastating.”