Letter: Madness to move training from RAF Cosford

Letter: It has been estimated that the livelihoods of approximately 30,000 people in Shropshire and Staffordshire depend on the continued operation of the Defence Training Centre at RAF Cosford.

It is a well known fact that the decision to move the Defence Training Centre to St Athan in South Wales was made not for "defence" or "economic" purposes but for purely political purposes.

There were Welsh Assembly elections due at the time and the Labour party wan-ted to avoid losing too many seats by being seen to create jobs in Wales. It is therefore amazing that a Conservative-dominated government is intending to carry on with this expensive, unpopular and unnecessary scheme.

Could it be that Armed Forces Minister, Nick Harvey, is hoping that the Lib Dems will become more popular in Wales and make political gains there at the expense of the people in Sh-ropshire and Staffordshire?

The Conservative MPs of Shropshire and Staffordshire are raising hardly a whimper to defend jobs and standards of living in their constituencies.

The Defence School at Cosford at present earns a lot of money for the UK by selling training to members of overseas armed forces. St Athan will not be able to do this to any extent as the highest earner - radar training - is being taken by Germany as part of the closing down of Cosford.

Many of Cosford's highly trained technical instructors have indicated they are unwilling to move to South Wales. This in itself will create a problem at St Athan.

So this unnecessary, uneconomic and unpopular move will: A. be disastrous for Shropshire and Staffordshire jobs and economies; B. be disastrous for the UK's export earnings; C. be problematic for defence training at St Athan; D. may earn the Lib Dems a few more votes in Wales.

Denis Allen

Wellington