Laws slams tory MP’s hypocrisy and dishonesty over future lynx order
David Laws, MP for Yeovil Constituency, has attacked as hypocrisy and dishonesty comments made by a Tory MP – Douglas Carswell – who has sought the cancellation of the order for 70 Future Lynx Helicopters.
Mr. Carswell was quoted earlier this year as saying of the Future Lynx deal that …”It is a bad deal and the sooner we get out of it the better”. However, last week he told the Western Gazette newspaper that: “I am only asking questions. I am not against the contract per se…..I would be very disappointed if they cancelled it…”
But on Mr. Carswell’s website last week he again criticised the Future Lynx contract, stating that “…British troops are paying a blood price because our defence budget is being spent in the interests of a few defence contractors, rather than our armed forces”. And in a 9
th June article on his website, Mr. Carswell described the Future Lynx as a “tax guzzling helicopter”, and suggested it should be replaced by the Sikorsky or Eurocopter model.
Commenting,
David Laws MP said:
“I am furious about these ill informed comments by Conservative MP Douglas Carswell, who has consistently been seeking to undermine the Future Lynx order.
“Mr. Carswell must take
Somerset residents for fools, when he tells our local papers last week that he is “not against the contract”, while trying to undermine it in the House of Commons and in the media. I am afraid that his comments reek of hypocrisy and dishonesty.
“It is also outrageous of Douglas Carswell to say that British troops are dying because of the Future Lynx order – which is exactly the claim that he has made on his website.
“Mr. Carswell clearly knows nothing about helicopters, and nothing about being straight with people. A long period of silence on his part on this issue would now be welcome.”
ENDS.
Category: Constituency News