LAWS SLAMS FURTHER CONSERVATIVE ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE £1BN “FUTURE LYNX/WILDCAT” CONTRACT
David Laws, Parliamentary Candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Yeovil Constituency, today criticised a further attempt by senior Conservative MP Douglas Carswell to undermine the contract for the Future Lynx (Wildcat) helicopter. The order for 62 Wildcats is worth over £1bn, and is crucial for the armed forces and for the protection of jobs and key skills at the Agusta Westland factory in Yeovil.
Conservative MP Douglas Carswell again claimed in comments to the Mail on Sunday Newspaper (11th April 2010) that British troops are paying a “blood price” for the decision to choose the Future Lynx/Wildcat helicopter. Mr. Carswell repeated his call for the Ministry of Defence to buy American helicopters in place of Westland’s “Future Lynx/Wildcat”.
The Conservative Party has failed to give full support to the Future Lynx contract, and during the election campaign in 2005 Conservative Defence Spokesman Gerald Howarth sort to block the contract by referring it to the National Audit Office.
David Laws said:
“It makes me incredibly angry that Conservative MP Douglas Carswell is once again trying to sabotage the £1bn contract for the Future Lynx-Wildcat helicopter, which is so crucial to our armed forces and to jobs and skills in Westland helicopters.
“I also find it deeply offensive that Mr. Carswell is suggesting that British troops are paying a “blood price” for the decision to order the Wildcat helicopter. The “Wildcat” is a first class helicopter, and what is putting British lives at risk is not this helicopter but the dithering and delay in placing orders by successive Conservative and Labour Governments.
“If orders had been placed on time, our troops in Afghanistan would now have the aircraft they need.
“Mr. Carswell seems once again to be repeating his call for the Wildcat order to be scrapped, and for US helicopters to be ordered in their place. This would not only cost thousands of jobs in our area, but it would do precious little for our armed forces – the idea that we could suddenly magic up a whole group of new helicopters, train up pilots, and deliver all this instantly to the front-line is just pie in the sky. This just shows that Mr. Carswell hasn’t got the vaguest idea what he is talking about, and he has obviously bought the spin from our American rivals, instead of backing a proven British product.
“I make no apologies for being a strong advocate of the Future Lynx/Wildcat order, and for lobbying hard for the order. And I promise to defend this order in the face of Conservative attempts to undermine the Wildcat. We have been in this situation many times before – during the last General Election the Conservative Defence Spokesman, Gerald Howarth, tried to scupper the contract by referring it to the National Audit Office.
“This ongoing situation shows that the Conservatives still cannot be trusted to back Westland helicopters. Instead of attacking a first class British helicopter that has one of the best track records of any helicopter in the world, the Conservatives should focus on why it takes us so long to make decisions on defence orders in this country. If these and other helicopters had been ordered years ago, when they should have been, then the recent helicopter shortage would never have arisen. That is the real scandal which we should be focusing on – and it is politicians, not Westland staff, who should be in the firing line for those failures.”
Note: Douglas Carswell MP made his comments in an article in the Mail on Sunday of 11th April 2010, entitled: “Troops pay “blood price” as ex-MOD chief protects £1bn helicopter contract.”
ENDS
Category: MP Press Releases
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