After a passionate plea in a debate in the House of Commons on the future of Coastguards by Sheryll Murray MP the Minister still proclaimed his ideal “that nine or 10 stations is the optimum number” asking one member where the cull should begin by saying that his speech, “would have been interesting if he had said which ones should close, because that would have been informative”.
In her speech Sheryll praised the work undertaken by the Coastguard and in particular its role to coordinate rescues describing the service they provide as ‘professional’ and warned that “We remove that local relationship at our peril.” She called for the modernisation of the equipment and went into some detail of some of the many rescues undertaken by Brixham Coastguard.
She also called on the Minister to retract some information he had given out as Brixham too has an international role and must always be ready to deal with situations if Falmouth goes down, as has happened in the past. The two stations are paired. The Minister conceded that Brixham did have international capabilities. She also criticised the Minister’s use of phrase when he said that Falmouth was “ridiculously close” to Brixham and then showed the Minister that this distance was not uncommon.
Following the debate Sheryll said, “I am very disappointed by the attitude of the Minister who does not appear to be listening to the vast majority of people who live in coastal communities and do not want to see half of our coastguard stations closing. I will continue to campaign to ensure that this cull does not take place.”
Ends
For further information please contact Sheryll’s office on 01579 344428.
Full Speech currently available on the Parliament website at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmwhall/02.htm