So Minister, why did you deceive us?

A very good question from the people of Plymouth.

"LABOUR yesterday sounded the death knell for Plymouth's historic Royal Navy base despite repeated ministerial reassurances.

After centuries of Naval tradition, Plymouth – once the largest naval base in western Europe – could be left with just seven warships beyond 2016, following an announcement by the Ministry of Defence.

A hammer blow to the Navy's future in the Westcountry, it comes just two months after Defence Secretary John Hutton said there were "no clouds on the horizon as far as Devonport is concerned".

Tory MP Gary Streeter accused Mr Hutton of "misleading" the people of Devon and Cornwall over the Navy base's future prospects.
"I wouldn't trust him with a weather forecast," Mr Streeter, MP for South West Devon, said. "These are very dark clouds indeed."
He said the region could have "done without" such "over-optimistic predictions".

"I imagine John Hutton now regrets being quite so positive about Devonport because those words have a very hollow ring to them today," Mr Streeter added. "It shows me that the decision-making process has been in disarray from start to finish. Ministers didn't seem to know what was going on. I think it has been misleading and unhelpful.
"We have to work with the reality on the ground, which is Plymouth is losing and Portsmouth is gaining. The reality is Plymouth is withering on the vine."

South East Cornwall Lib-Dem MP Colin Breed said Mr Hutton's statement was "political expediency".

http://www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk/news/MINISTER-DID-DECEIVE/article-970691-detail/article.html

 

They must have known he was lying, his mouth was flapping and words were coming out.

Ms Lumley has said that she can thinks she can trust the idiot. Perhaps she has backed him into a corner and he will have to do the decent thing but I would not bet on it. For a start this lot would not know what the decent thing was and secondly would you trust a cornered rat? The whole country is being but fcuked by ZaNU Labour, why should Plymouth be different?

 

I really think they don't care anymore - they still want the vote of Scotland to stop the SNP smashing them off the court, but as far as the South of England is concerned - they know they are out anyway.

 

That about it i am looking forward to the SNP though kicking them to bits ala motherwell pub fight rules as seen in the 'the thick of it"

 

I think the very fact that she said she can trust him has put him into a corner. How bad would the headlines look for him and party if they tried to stiff the Gurkhas again ? The media would have field day with - Front page massive font : PM Untrustworthy ! (Although we already know he is). It would be another spectacular own goal at a time when they can't afford one.

Lets face it - they say they can't find the money for things like this but when it looks like somethings going to make them look really bad they find the money from somewhere.

 

Unfortunately they would not know the decent thing if it bit them. The idiot will come up with a package that meets the letter of waht he agreed to but falls well short of what is expected and swear blind that its what he agreed to. He will then be shocked to learn that the country expected him to honourble thing.

Back on thread no doubt the people of Plymouth will have it explained to them in a patronising way that whilst the Ministers words may have been open to misinterpretation he did not actually lie so its all there fault for misunderstanding him.

 

The South West on the whole votes Lib Dem, Labour doesn't give a fcuk if it doesn't mean votes and keeping the corrupt fcukers in power.

It makes absolutely no difference if a decision is good for the UK, if it's not good for Labour it wont happen.

 

This Government (and it's not the first) views the Armed Forces as expendable in every sense. Gutting it's assets to pay for public spending in other areas is just another expression of that. We'll pay for it twice though, when it's re-structured to meet future commitments, but few Governments have ever seen beyond their term of Office and they're desperately scrambling to balance their books after over-spending for a decade.

And the Lib Dem in the SW are the absolute bloody worst of them all for their spending habits. My school had to shut it's science wing for being unsafe the same year the County Council took on 20 new 'secretaries'. And £200,000 on road signs for one road, that were replaced the next year. Wouldn't trust them with my milk money let alone my taxes.

 

I think that it was in Alistair Campbell's diaries that he told us that right from the start cabinet meetings were not focussed on running the country well, but in staying in power. The two should go hand in hand but there are subtle differences and they are becoming more and more apparent as desperation strikes HMG. Therefore, we should not be surprised at anything which might be done to retain Labour's voter base.

 

You have hit the nail on the head there, that is why this country is in a sad state of affairs now.