Browse content similar to 18/07/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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for today. It was meant to be the first the of the MPs having their | :00:01. | :00:11. | |
:00:11. | :00:13. | ||
summer break. -- the first day. On Newsnight Scotland, the long | :00:13. | :00:20. | |
awaited defence decisions are announced. RAF lookers will lose | :00:20. | :00:27. | |
the RAF and fighters, but Scotland will gain a significant part of the | :00:27. | :00:32. | |
British Army. Lossiemouth will remain open, but Redford Barracks | :00:32. | :00:39. | |
is to close. Good evening. The Scottish defence secretary it | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
outlines his plans to increase the number of personnel in Scotland. He | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
is criticised by the shadow Secretary. In the House of Commons, | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
the UK's defence transformation statement had it very Caledonian | :00:54. | :01:04. | |
feel to it. It had been well tot up, so we knew today's announcement | :01:04. | :01:12. | |
would be having big changes. We are determined to be bold and ambitious. | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
What does this mean for Scotland? As widely predicted, there is now | :01:17. | :01:24. | |
just one ear based law of of the border. -- 1 the airport base north | :01:24. | :01:32. | |
of the border. The RAF has left some basis, but the army will move | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
into Kinloss. Whilst the army is shrinking, the number of soldiers | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
based in Scotland is set to triple. Thousands of soldiers based in | :01:41. | :01:49. | |
Germany will return to the UK. In Edinburgh, all three backs will be | :01:49. | :01:57. | |
sold. A new Super backs will be built on the old era force base. -- | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
giant barracks. There will be a new army training area in southern | :02:02. | :02:12. | |
:02:12. | :02:23. | ||
Scotland. There is safe base will Taken together, this represents a | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
significant increase in the defence blueprint of Scotland. This is in | :02:27. | :02:33. | |
line with the Scottish tradition of supporting our armed forces. It is | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
a recognition that these are United Kingdom forces under the crone | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
protecting the United Kingdom. is important to insure the armed | :02:42. | :02:50. | |
forces are properly provided for, but there will be fury in Fife. The | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
RAF had been based there for 70 years, and it is a matter of deep | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
regret that the Government has broken this link. This footage | :02:59. | :03:09. | |
shows the Queen's first visit to Fife in 1937. Deviation in the town | :03:09. | :03:16. | |
dates back to 1937. Today marks the end of any rough. There has been | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
here defence carried on here for the best part of 100 years, and the | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
reason why it is being carried on 24 hours a day at this very day is | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
because it is in the right place to do the right job at the right time. | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
The base is believed to be worth �50 million to the local economy. | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
Now the army is coming here, but the planes will leave in 2013, and | :03:40. | :03:46. | |
it could be 2016 before a military units are set up. What happens in | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
between? I do not think that gap will manifest itself in the way | :03:51. | :03:58. | |
people envisage. A lot of investment will need to come in so | :03:58. | :04:05. | |
that it can be made ready for the change in use. Cheers in | :04:05. | :04:10. | |
Lossiemouth as locals there heard that the planes would be coming to | :04:10. | :04:16. | |
them. Their nine-month campaign was successful. We said from the onset | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
we would fight this campaign and not allow you decisions to be made | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
about the people of Moray without having our voices heard in | :04:23. | :04:32. | |
Westminster. That is what we have done. Huge sense of relief. Nine | :04:32. | :04:40. | |
months of pain and agony ended today. Really big decision for us. | :04:40. | :04:47. | |
Last two is already home to at the bombers, the jet planes will move | :04:47. | :04:53. | |
there in 2013. There was good news for at the neighbouring RAF base. | :04:53. | :04:59. | |
They knew the RAF were leaving, but now they have learned that the army | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
will be coming their by 2015. It has been a bittersweet day for the | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
forces in Scotland. For the first time in many years we have our | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
share of personnel in Scotland when these plans are finished that will | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
reflect our size of the UK populace. In that sense, it represents | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
natural justice for Scotland, but we have to make sure the rough | :05:21. | :05:27. | |
justice for some of the bases does not end up in adverse economic | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
effect. There followed from this battle will emerge as politicians | :05:32. | :05:38. | |
ball over the small print. -- that the results. We could not find a | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
minister that was available to join us from the government. I am joined | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
by the Labour shadow defence minister and Angus Robertson of the | :05:47. | :05:56. | |
SNP. Angus, you must be delighted. I am delighted in the sense that | :05:56. | :06:04. | |
the campaign in Moray to retain Lossiemouth and in Kinloss has won | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
through after a ten-month campaign, and my thanks quite to everybody | :06:09. | :06:19. | |
:06:19. | :06:21. | ||
who has been involved. -- My thanks call-out. But that is bittersweet | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
because all the political parties in Scotland agreed that we | :06:25. | :06:31. | |
supported the retention of both RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Leuchars as air | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
bases. Scotland had or only two based his operational after RAF | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
Kinloss began winding down, and we thought there was a future for two | :06:41. | :06:46. | |
air base is in Scotland. Sadly, the Westminster government has decided | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
that is not the case, but in RAF Leuchars case, the change of use | :06:51. | :06:58. | |
will see the army moved in. Bittersweet, but on personnel | :06:58. | :07:03. | |
numbers, a very welcome rise for the army, the establishment of a | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
mobile brigade in Scotland, but we will see more than 50 % of RAF | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
personnel in Scotland cut, and certainly not commented on in | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
detail, nearly 100 % of the Royal Marine contingent in Scotland which | :07:16. | :07:26. | |
were based in Angus, very specific reasons, their amphibious | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
capabilities. That will be moving to the south coast of England, and | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
we are not entirely sure what that means for the future. It is a very | :07:34. | :07:40. | |
mixed bag, not forgetting that buried in today's announcement is | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
confirmation that the divisional commander over Scotland, Northern | :07:43. | :07:49. | |
Ireland and northern England, which has operated outside Edinburgh, is | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
being cut in its entirety, so we will lose at very senior level of | :07:53. | :07:59. | |
military commander in Scotland. we focus on not we are -- on what | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
we are not sure about, if the SNP had a clear strategy, or any | :08:04. | :08:10. | |
strategy at all, about commitments, what would enable us to meet | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
commitments, do you think you could have made all these arguments are a | :08:14. | :08:19. | |
lot more effectively? I think we have made them effectively and that | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
is why we have won through in some areas, by highlighting the very | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
capable facility that is based there, so we can interact with our | :08:28. | :08:34. | |
Nordic neighbours and commitments for the wider region. We | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
successfully made the case that in the last 10 years there has been a | :08:38. | :08:45. | |
significant loss of jobs. There has been a multi-billion-pound defence | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
underspend in Scotland, a literally anaemic presence for the army. | :08:50. | :09:00. | |
:09:00. | :09:00. | ||
Under Labour there will only 3,000 troops in Scotland. That is why we | :09:00. | :09:09. | |
will increase that and it has been able for the Conservatives to | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
announce that this is a good thing. Up until now, it has been pretty | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
anaemic with only 3,000 men and women from army battalions. That is | :09:19. | :09:27. | |
to be welcomed. Let us be clear, Scotland has done badly out of UK | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
decision-making on defence, but I do not think any party in Scotland | :09:31. | :09:38. | |
would be cutting the air force by 50 % and the Royal Marines by 100 %. | :09:38. | :09:47. | |
If we look at Labour's comments, they look a bit over rot. The army | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
presence will double in Scotland, there is a lot of expertise coming | :09:51. | :09:58. | |
into Scotland. That is correct in one respect. We will see increasing | :09:58. | :10:05. | |
numbers, and that is good. Around 1,200 extra, anything up to 1000 | :10:05. | :10:12. | |
extra. What the Secretary of State did not identify today, and he was | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
questioned at a time after time, nor identification of what all this | :10:17. | :10:23. | |
is going to cost at the end of the day. The RAF are moving out and the | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
army moving in. That comes with a cost, and there is nothing here to | :10:28. | :10:35. | |
back up what that will cost us overall. He spoke about an extra | :10:35. | :10:43. | |
�1.5 billion of equipment, but only 30 % of that will be in this | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
Parliament. The think we are spending too much, too little on | :10:48. | :10:58. | |
:10:58. | :10:59. | ||
defence? Some of this is quite a way down the road, and what we need | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
to see in these duties... I agree with Angus, there has been some | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
hard campaigning and the people in Lossiemouth deserve all the credit, | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
but what we do not need to see in any of these communities is a gap | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
between now and whenever the army moved in, either Kinloss or RAF | :11:18. | :11:26. | |
Leuchars, because... Are you making an economic our strategy argument? | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
The question I am answering is an economic one. We have seen | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
businesses closing down and house prices falling. The economics is | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
difficult to square. What you are seeing is whatever the cost, we | :11:39. | :11:48. | |
have to pay for defence jobs. not just about strategic value, and | :11:48. | :11:55. | |
I do worry about that. What we have got is a decision today which has | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
come 10 months after a strategic defence review where there was no | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
strategy there whatsoever. I am not absolutely convinced that what we | :12:04. | :12:10. | |
have got is the right decision either, and to a certain extent I | :12:10. | :12:17. | |
agree with what Angus is saying in terms of liquors in particular. -- | :12:17. | :12:24. | |
RAF Leuchars in particular. It was there for 70 years, a strategic | :12:24. | :12:34. | |
:12:34. | :12:36. | ||
location. That will be a hard Angus Robertson, looking at | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
strategic forward planning, what do you think should happen with | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
Lossiemouth? Should the Joint Strike fighters go there, or are | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
strategic advantages further undermined? I am trying to | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
understand the detail from today's statement. Unfortunately the am Fox | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
did not answer these questions when I oppose them. -- unfortunately, | :12:57. | :13:03. | |
Liam Fox did not answer. I suspect we will see the quick action jets | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
from Leuchars move to Lossiemouth, two squadrons, the operational | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
Conversion Unit, the Tornado Training Squadron, remaining. And | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
one other operational squadron, as well as the simulators in the RAF | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
Regiment. That would maintain personnel numbers at Lossiemouth, | :13:22. | :13:28. | |
but you would be right to point out that tornadoes will be taken out of | :13:28. | :13:30. | |
service and that some undetermined point in the future we will have | :13:30. | :13:37. | |
the next generation of fast jets come in. In 2005, the RAF concluded | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
that Lossiemouth was the bath bath -- the best fast jet base in the UK | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
to host the next generation of fast jets. We are meant to be co- | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
ordinating with Norway, who are also getting these jets. | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
Lossiemouth is best placed for our long-term future with fast jets. | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
wonder why you think you need two air bases in Scotland. The bigger | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
picture I am asking about his were you to design a forces profile for | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
an independent Scotland, would it be a terribly bad fit to have won | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
their base and a large army contingent? It would be important | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
to have an air facility like Lossiemouth and a mobile army and | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
brigade coming in. These are things an independent Scotland would need | :14:23. | :14:29. | |
and it is to be welcomed. There are capability gaps at present, no | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
transportation aircraft based in Scotland, no helicopters based in | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
Scotland and a number of army functions not based in Scotland. | :14:39. | :14:46. | |
While there is progress in that said, -- sons, or the changes would | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
need to be made. Rossor, do you think these changes to the army are | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
significant? -- Russell Brown, do you think? There is a degree of | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
sense but there is a tremendous amount of small print to be looked | :15:00. | :15:05. | |
at. There was quite a lot of air coming from the Secretary of State | :15:05. | :15:11. | |
and no real answers. Angus is talking about an independent | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
Scotland. If there is a threat at what we have seen in terms of the | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
Strategic Defence Review, what would be worse is an independent | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
Scotland. Angus talks about his Nordic neighbours, Norway, a part | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
of NATO. An independent Scotland would not be part of NATO. We | :15:29. | :15:35. | |
should not forget these things. are out of time, I am sorry, to | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
discuss the wider implications. But thank you both very much indeed. | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
I am joined from Edinburgh by the Defence expert Trevor Royle. Thank | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
you for coming in. How significant do you think the changes will be | :15:50. | :15:57. | |
for the Army as we know it so far? Very significant for the army. I | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
think what we are seeing is a return almost two pre-Second World | :16:00. | :16:05. | |
War Scotland, we are seeing the army's footprint extend across the | :16:05. | :16:11. | |
country, we will see poor George being retained, which I welcome, | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
possibly the army moving into Arbroath -- we will see Porter | :16:15. | :16:21. | |
George being retained. Forces are coming back from Germany, the | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
Defence Secretary Liam Fox has said we will do that. That get rid of a | :16:24. | :16:31. | |
lot of local social problems as well. Both Kinloss and Leuchars | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
will suffer from the end of the RAF presence, but I'm sure they will | :16:36. | :16:42. | |
welcome the army units when they come. The only caveat I have, I | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
denigrate, quite honestly, the absence of the army from Edinburgh. | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
I think those closures are most unfortunate, and as Angus Robertson | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
said, the absence of a separate command structure in Scotland. It | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
looks as though the Army in Scotland for the first time in the | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
long history of a British Army connection with Scotland, will be | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
represented by a brigade structure. So you think we have to look at the | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
small print? What about the idea of increasing the reservists? Some | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
people have said this is an army on the cheap and it is difficult for | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
employers to facilitate? Defence Secretary Liam Fox said we | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
were copying other countries like America, Canada and Australia. Of | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
course we are, but they have much larger armed forces. I think | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
reserve forces have a very distinct role to play. Look at the way the | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
National Guards plays a very strong role in Afghanistan and Iraq. | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
Asking our Territorial Army to do exactly the same, it seems to me | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
and it will seem to a lot of people serving in the regular Army who can | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
see numbers cut from 100,000 down to 80,000, that we are now looking | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
for Defence on the cheap. We know the Joint Strike fighters | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
were supposed to going to Leuchars, how important do you think it is | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
that they go into Lossiemouth and there is that kind of capability in | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
that part of the country? I don't think we should be too tied up with | :18:12. | :18:17. | |
numbers. We had three air force bases in Scotland for a long time. | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
Kinross was always going to go once Nimrods have been axed. I think the | :18:22. | :18:27. | |
differences between Lossiemouth and Leuchars are minimal. The problem | :18:27. | :18:35. | |
always will be overload. At the moment, Lossiemouth has -- is going | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
to be the focus for just about all our strike fighter aircraft in | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
Scotland. What happens if things change in the rest of the world and | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
we certainly need to have operational Conversion Unit, more | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
training and, as you say, a joint strike fighter coming in? As Harold | :18:52. | :18:58. | |
Macmillan always said, what happens when events take over. When you | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
look at what political parties are saying about defence strategy and | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
the allegation that this has been driven by costs rather than | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
strategy, the criticisms some have made about the SNP not having great | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
clarity in their defence strategy, do you think there is enough | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
forward planning for what we need in the future, and how will | :19:17. | :19:23. | |
Scotland be placed to meet that? The short answer is no. Last | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
October when the strategic defence review was put in place, there was | :19:26. | :19:32. | |
nothing of the kind. We were not trying to marry our commitments to | :19:32. | :19:39. | |
what we had available to us. It means, I think, we are still | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
struggling to try to discover what level of forces we need, what we | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
are going to do in the world. Scotland has only a very minor part | :19:46. | :19:52. | |
in that, down the years Scotland has always been very important for | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
training and also we have a huge land mass, which is very important | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
for the services. At the moment I don't think we have it worked out | :20:00. | :20:07. | |
properly. Trevor Royle, thank you. A very quick look at the papers. | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
The Scotsman leads with this story, they take on it is Fox unveils | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
defence plan to save the Union. Leuchars Air Base closure confirmed, | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
but Scotland gets new barracks. That's it from me, a very good | :20:22. | :20:32. | |
:20:32. | :20:34. | ||
This evening. Cloudy and damp tonight, a grey start tomorrow. A | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
bit of brightness developing away from some western coasts and hills, | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
but that will be enough to hat -- to add energy to the atmosphere. | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
Some of the were showers across north-east England, slow-moving, | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
heavy and thundery. North-west England is still fairly cloudy. | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
There will be some showers in the south, but well scattered. There | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
will be some brightness, if not sunshine, between. Sunshine | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
possible in the south coast, staying cloudy across Cornwall and | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
northern Devon, the showers will ease a little bit. South-east and | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
Wales seeing a cloud break, but a cloudy day to the north with little | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
brightness. There will be some brightness in Northern Ireland, | :21:16. | :21:25. | |
most will be dry. The best sunshine is Scotland, plenty of cloud to the | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
north. The prospects from Tuesday until Wednesday, there will not be | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
a huge amount of change. The wind will ease and there will be some | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
showers across Scotland, the heaviest in the south-west. For | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
England and Wales, the difference from Tuesday to Wednesday will be | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
increased cloud. The Tempest conditions on Wednesday will tend | :21:45. | :21:49. |