A Fife independent councillor has attacked mainstream political parties for being more interested in scoring political points on the withdrawal of the RAF from Leuchars, rather than looking to the base’s prospects.
Cupar councillor Bryan Poole branded the row between North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell and chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander as “almost too ridiculous for words”, and slated Labour MP Thomas Docherty and SNP politicians for wading into the argument in the days since.
Mr Poole said, “It seems to me that the energy of these three parties is being expended on blaming each other when it should be channelled into looking to the future.
“Personally I would prefer to see the Leuchars airbase put to use in a more productive way than as a base for the army, or the RAF when it comes to it.
“Most European countries spend significantly less on defence and significantly more on research and development.
“Within a 20-mile radius of Leuchars we have two of the very best universities in the UK, St Andrews and Dundee, with a third Abertay having a reputation for innovation.”
He added, “Why can’t our ‘warring’ party politicians not come together to make a case to both the UK and Scottish governments to invest in and convert Leuchars into an ‘engineering centre of excellence’ and encourage the engineering giants of the world the Rolls-Royces, the Boeings, the General Electrics, the Airbuses to work in partnership with the universities in making useful things for humanity?
“That is what Menzies Campbell, Roderick Campbell and Thomas Docherty and their respective parties should be doing.
“Or would they rather be squabbling and political point scoring? There is absolutely no doubt what local people would rather see.”‘Sour grapes’His comments came after Sir Menzies claimed his Lib Dem party colleague Mr Alexander had lobbied for the retention of RAF Lossiemouth, which borders his Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency, to suit his own ends prompting Dunfermline MP Thomas Docherty to call on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to investigate the claims.
But Mr Poole said, “Of course Danny Alexander would be lobbying to retain Lossiemouth as the remaining RAF base in Scotland just as Menzies Campbell was lobbying to retain Leuchars.
“To complain that Danny Alexander ‘used his position in government’ sounds to me like sour grapes from what I read in the lead-up to the decision to close Leuchars, Menzies Campbell used all his contacts, built up over a long period in Westminster, to try and influence the ultimate decision.
“It strikes me that at the moment that Danny Alexander won that particular battle.”
He added, “Labour, through Dunfermline MP Thomas Docherty, is no better.
“It seems to me that Rosyth has done okay in gaining MoD work, not least the current aircraft carriers contract.
“Does anyone think that one of the local MPs former Chancellor and Prime Minister Gordon Brown didn’t lobby to have that work placed at Rosyth?”
Describing the SNP as “little better”, Mr Poole said, “Does anyone seriously believe that if Scotland was independent the aircraft carrier contract would be at Rosyth and the Glasgow shipyards?
“Does anyone seriously believe that Scotland would have retained the three airbases, Leuchars, Lossiemouth and Kinloss?”