Naval_Gazer said:Thanks for the heads up. It's rare to see more than a dozen or so MPs attend major debates on the defence of our country. Let's see how many attend this one. After all, it's only about the future of half our surviving naval bases for surface warships.
danny said:Naval_Gazer said:Thanks for the heads up. It's rare to see more than a dozen or so MPs attend major debates on the defence of our country. Let's see how many attend this one. After all, it's only about the future of half our surviving naval bases for surface warships.
well a third any way :thumright:
unless you dont count sweepers
Naval_Gazer said:Video of debate can be seen here. I counted no more than half a dozen MPs in the chamber. Linda Gilroy, MP for Plymouth Sutton, took a pop at Portsmouth and there were several interesting snippets from Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth. These promised little change to the status quo w.r.t. RM, SM, Amphib and FOST basing in Plymouth and the fact that FSC is still at "an early stage of concept design". I wonder what stage it was at when we were discussing it back in the late 1990s?
hackle said:Naval_Gazer said:Video of debate can be seen here. I counted no more than half a dozen MPs in the chamber. Linda Gilroy, MP for Plymouth Sutton, took a pop at Portsmouth and there were several interesting snippets from Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth. These promised little change to the status quo w.r.t. RM, SM, Amphib and FOST basing in Plymouth and the fact that FSC is still at "an early stage of concept design". I wonder what stage it was at when we were discussing it back in the late 1990s?
The debate ("Devonport and the Royal Navy") can be read HERE.
Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth said:I assure my hon. Friend[...] that recent suggestions that we are planning to close the naval base at Devonport are without foundation, and I can confirm that there are no plans for flag officer sea training to move from Devonport. [...]