MOD - disgraceful and very serious misbehaviour
My earlier post explained what I was told about a meeting in Uist when the MOD briefed the Council and others about the closure/wind-down plans for the range.
That Angus MacNeil MP and Alasdair Allan MSP have had an apology from the MOD for misrepresenting their involvement in the closure plans is not the end of the matter.
Indeed, it doesn't even begin to address the seriousness of the situation.
If an MOD press officer has deliberately misled community leaders (which no-one seems to dispute) about other elected representatives, then that individual should be severely disciplined. It is not a small mistake, nor is it by any stretch of the imagination trivial.
If there has ever been an issue that needs to be raised in Parliament then this is it.
But why did the MOD do this?
That Angus MacNeil MP and Alasdair Allan MSP have had an apology from the MOD for misrepresenting their involvement in the closure plans is not the end of the matter.
Indeed, it doesn't even begin to address the seriousness of the situation.
If an MOD press officer has deliberately misled community leaders (which no-one seems to dispute) about other elected representatives, then that individual should be severely disciplined. It is not a small mistake, nor is it by any stretch of the imagination trivial.
If there has ever been an issue that needs to be raised in Parliament then this is it.
But why did the MOD do this?
- Stupidity or ignorance?
- Deliberate political meddling? (to stitch up Labour or the SNP?)
- To ferment local antagonisms so we ignore the main issue?
22 comments:
I would like to see the "unreserved apology" as there were many witnesses to the MOD comment that both MP and MSP had been fully briefed well before the announcement.
We only have their word that this apology was forthcoming and we all know what their word is worth.
JS
I think everyone has missed the boat here.
The meeting that took place in Uist was conducted by QinetiQ, not the MOD, and the changes to be made to the Range were the proposals that QinetiQ had put forward to the MOD for consideration.
The MOD has asked all sites worldwide to make cost cutting changes, not just Royal Artillary Range Hebridies.
The proposal which QinetiQ put forward was to remote control the Uist Range from their Range in Wales.
Now, this is where it gets interesting.
QinetiQ claim, by remote control and the scaling back of staff by around half, they would save the MOD money.
To remote control the Range would cost around £40 million. By cutting the staff by around half would save £400,000 per year. So it would take 10 years for the MOD to break even.
The new equipment which would remote the range would be, (I have not confirmed this yet), sourced from the States from a defence supplier there.
A very nice £40 million contract for which ever defence company that would be. Might that companies name begin with a Q.
The problems within Uist lie with both the MOD, for not making a decision as to what defence missile will be replacing the defunct Rapier system and getting supplied with it and training their soldiers, and also QinetiQ, for being such an arse of a company and not promoting the Range in Uist and getting more of a workload from other nations.
There was a time when most nations of Europe came over to Uist to train their soldiers on the Range, but of course it was run by the MOD then.........
PS. Stop bitching at each other, if you feel that the loony politicians have let everyone down, then put pen to paper and send a letter to the MOD/GOV and show your support the Range remaining open at the level it is now.
Just remember that QinetiQ is the culprit here not the MP/MSP......
Here we go again……. Who did it…… Who did it…. Lets blame someone, chuck some mud & sound bites around, score cheap political points, blah, blah, blah. A good old Hebridean squabble is erupting. We may even loose track of what we should be fighting for – jobs and security of a fragile economy in Uist.
I had heard a rumour about these cuts several months ago, how did I come about this info? By having a pint and a gossip with a good mate. If I was privy to this info I can only assume that the people tasked with the economic future of these Islands were also aware of the impending issues facing the range and the Uists. Judging by the letter from the MOD on the Hebrides News website referring to another letter on the 7th of July 2007 I think I’m correct in this assumption.
Did anyone (DJ Macsween included) ask the MSP or MP what were they doing on this issue then? Did the MSP or MP take it on themselves to highlight, at a government level, what the importances of these jobs were to the community in Uist?
Just to be proactive and be forward thinking, here is my suggestion. I believe these job cuts are to be phased in over the next few years, West Camp in the next 18 moths, St Kilda by 2013/14 and some even further away. The government has just announced plans for a new digital age in Britain, where all communities will have access to super fast internet connections to allow this country to be at the leading edge of the global digital economy. As MOD operations are scaled down over the next few years would it not be the perfect opportunity for this to be rolled out in the Uists (and Barra)? The Government could simultaneously help the economy recover from these cuts while showing that it’s committed to all communities across the country accessing the digital economy regardless of how remote they are. Could the same technology that will allow the range to be remotely operated from Aberporth in Wales put the Uists at the forefront of the new digital Britain?
I can see why the Council want Macsween. If Labour want this seat safe Macsween must be successful and save a large number of the jobs at risk in doing so. The numpties cannot get a result from Westminster and are on a spoiling mission hoping it will come out as joint working. No sitting on the fence is just not going to work for the dynamic duo this time.Get off your arse and beg!!!
It would appear from the latest email from the MoD that they did not apologise at all for suggesting that Macneil and Allan knew about tne jobs cut.
Macneil then went on the radio at lunchtime to call on Macsween to quit without any explanation about what he actually did.
The local media have let him off the hook on his expenses. Will they let him off on this one too?
Watching the debacle from the south end of South Uist I can only lament on the cheap and nasty political ping pong ( pun fully intended ) that has suddenly erupted over what is potentially the most serious economic blow to the Southern Isles for many years.
I note that it was councillor Carlin (Benbecula) that proposed McSween, I may be somewhat naive as to what goes on behind the scenes in the Council but this farago is little more than a cynical attempt to use the misfortune of the Uists as a convenient platform for the labour party.
Whatever happened to a united front fighting a common cause for the community ?
While we are on the expenses trail, will the digging go as deep as to enquire how a certain Mr Morrison was in the trough right up to, and including, his curly tai l?
Are my eyes deceiving me or is that Kenny Flip eating a guga sandwich at the task force meeting. For Gods sake surely Dumb and Dumber have not sent Kenny as their Representative. Must have been major issues at Westminster and Holyrood today when Dumb and Dumber could not attend the meeting.
http://www.hebridesnews.co.uk/scottish_government_protest_to_london.html
You have the wrong end of the stick, Angus. The MoD has apologised to MacNeil for absolutely nothing, In fact they have gone into much more detail about when, how and where he was briefed. Allan was also told about the possible job implications but he couldn't even get it together to visit the range over a two year period.
1.51 Grow up!
1.51PM
There is no independant"local media" only media locally who support independence (SNP version).
Did Abscent Allan not state last summer he was going to St Kilda when MSP's were asked where they were going on holiday.
Nach e bha Hiort.
I think that youse all are being very hard on our Mr Allan. As his closest confidant I can now reveal that he did indeed visit St Kilda.
It was a complete masterstroke, not only did he get the MOD to take him there, as well as wine and dine him, but he was fully successful in the real reason for his visit. And no, it was not to receive the delights of the local lassies.
You see, if you refer back to my previous post on another small local afair, the situation for the continued supply of organic guga is getting desperate. Only the other night I had tremendous difficulty in persuading Charley Barley from going out to Chicken Head as the poor man was labouring under the delusion that the chickens out there could pass muster as guga.
Maybe for a tourist... but not the aficionados from Ness.
Now Charlie and the marag masher can sleep a little easier through the valiant undercover efforts of oor Allan.
SNH may be a bit tricky to get round once harvesting on Boreray gets fully underway, perhaps we can persuade them that it is a relocation scheme just like the Uibhisteachs got for the hedgehogs. Alternatively, we can leave the harvesting to the Hearachs as they are fine lads at operating under the cover of darkness.
Trebbbles all round...again!
5.51 pm
A Masterstroke indeed!
Mr MacSween can recommend to the task force that he will lead the Quinetiq employees (on a sub- contract basis, TUPE protected, and with free issue wellingtons) to the nether regions of St Kilda on a mission to harvest all the young gugas that Charley needs to maintain his world domination.
Travel to and from Boreray can be scheduled by that genius of ferry timetabling, Ronnie MacKinnon (ex councillor, now Storas Uibhist director).
And the entire proceedings being supervised by the council DSO. You know, this has a certain coming together of the fates and it might just work.
In fact it simply cannot fail with the dream team now being assembled.
The only pre requisite is that there will need to be a brief examination of both (not just the left one) of Mr MacSweens big toes. As everyone in the Big White House knows, the virtue of a large toe is one of the most perfectly suitable attributes when climbing on a platform.
I can just seem him now, gazing fondly at 125 former Quinetic workers as they toil happily on the slopes of Boreray.
Some of the comments on here make me ashamed to be an islander. The personal, nasty and downright insulting tone of much of this "debate" is extremely depressing. If you've got a valid point to make surely you don't need to resort to name-calling.
8.12
Mmm......
I thought that the only requirements for scaling slopes, platforms, and on to the backs of others, was a thick skin and a brass neck. Much obliged for the astute insight on the way forward for Uist.
For his contribution to inter party harmony should we not have a quick vote that councillor Carlin gets an MBE or, at the very least, a new pipe.
Cllr Carlin showed at last weeks council meeting that he was there to work for the people of Uist. "unlike More faces than the Town hall clock Manford and Trombosis Macleod". Cllr Carlin saw that D J Macsween was working on the retention of the Uist Base, while Dumb and Dumber were away at very important votes at Westminster and Holyrood that day." Can someone check if there was any votes that day and did they vote on them"?
Cllr Carlin offered to do a very hounarable thing by offering to come off the task force and have D J Macsween put on it.
I believe Carlins pipe has a white/black facility for electing new MSP's.
Anyone stumbling onto this page would get the distinct impression that our elected SNP representitives were to blame for this potential catastrophe. Blame for closure will rest squarely on the shoulders of the criminal classes known as NuLabour/Tory and no amount of spin by Mr Macsween and his cohorts will alter that fact. Master of Quinetiq is MOD and master of MOD is that vipers' nest Whitehall presently misruled by NuLabour
3.07 pm
Got it right in one.
Until Scotland has control of defence we are only ever going to be at the tail end of Whitehall.
Small European countries have their own military forces and Uist could have been in a position to market what could have been a world class deep range facility.
McSween and his band of charlatans should ask the simple question, where does the buck stop ?
Unfortunately for them the answer that it is with the labour government in Whitehall is a tad unacceptable to them; so lets just blame the SNP, and create imaginary smokescreens and diversions away from the real issue of a bankrupt labour government which cannot even manage its own military facility.
You couldn't make it up.
11.05am
I take it that you are fully aware that only recently a large delegation from the Vatican journeyed all the way to the nether regions of Benbecula.
For the rest of the great unwashed I can now reveal that this was the very pipe that signaled the election of the new Pope; that white / black facility was proved once again to be extremely useful.
8.09 bet you could!
I live and work in South Uist and I was told abut this blog lastnight. We do know that Angus Brendan was briefed by my bosses at QinetiQ - I know, becuase I was one of the people he met when he went round the range! Strangely Alistair Allan has never been round to meet the staff and get an idea of what we do and the potential the range has. Can he use this blog to explain?
Basically - all we want is for all of our politicians to muck in and support us. I dont know Donald John MacSween but i certainly don't resent his presence on the task force. what I'm trying to say is that a task force made up of Gerry Macleod's is going to save the day - that view was shared by all in the Borrodale lastnight!!!
And for the record i am a Labour voter and intend doing so again - becuase most of us at the range dont subscribe to the "Brits Out" view as articulated by John Swinney MSP a few years ago - and we dont want a Tory government returned.
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