Britain's land and sea rescue service is being sold off to the French, it was announced yesterday....which will result in a drop from 40 available helis to fewer than 24.
Defence minister Quentin Davies revealed the £6billion contract would be wrenched from the RAF and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and handed to the private Soteria Consortium.
Naturally, the Tories mounted a strong defefence of Britain's historical experti...
Oh, I can't keep it up:
Tory defence spokesman Liam Fox said: 'We are not opposed to the principle of contracting out, part of the service already is, but we are deeply concerned that a project of this importance and magnitude should be rushed through in the teeth of a General Election.'
I agree with the Tories - stuff like this should be contracted out. It's the way to shrink the public sector, starve the unions and improve efficiency.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that EU laws require us to let the French bid on it, the contract will be poorly negotiated to cost way more than it should, and it'll be front loaded with cash payments so Labour can bring in some quick loot to throw around to make the deficit appear smaller.
But done right, stuff should be privatised.
Normally I'd agree with Krauser, but I think this counts as part of our coastal defence systems and, moreover, I can see the French expecting to have the RNLI do all the real work while they pick up the money.
ReplyDeleteThe contract also provides training for the RAF, who use it to off-set the cost of training for action.
This is a core-function of the state, an aspect of defence. It's one you keep in-house and furthermore have it done by people who pledge allegiance to the Crown, not foreign or even national paymasters.
The MCA is a shower of shit. What the government should really do is just close it down. It's an officious, nannying pile of shit.
ReplyDeleteFound my original rant on these wastes of skin.
ReplyDeletewv: peess - what I wouldn't do on the MCA if they were on fire.
What Obo said. Taxpayers money goes in one end and at the other the rescue work is done largely by unpaid volunteers. Where the fuck does it all go? I've heard of coastguard rescue vehicles being fuelled with a whip round because the fucking fuel budget can't cover the cost of some more diesel till the end of the month.
ReplyDelete"I agree with the Tories - stuff like this should be contracted out."
ReplyDeleteNormally, I do to. But the link to defence is too great to pass over, as WoaR points out.
"...and, moreover, I can see the French expecting to have the RNLI do all the real work while they pick up the money. "
Me too.
"It's an officious, nannying pile of shit."
That can be changed, if there's a will in government to do so.
"Taxpayers money goes in one end and at the other the rescue work is done largely by unpaid volunteers. "
Again, that is the bit that needs attention, not wholesale flogging off to the highest bidder.
What if wholesale flogging off to the highest bidder was in fact the best way to address it? I'm not saying it necessarily is, just that it shouldn't be ruled out. It's also worth bearing in mind that RNLI has pots of cash compared to HMCG - those rescue boats don't come cheap - and yet is only a charity. Ironic that it works so closely with what is very much the poorest member of the emergency services. Perhaps the government should walk away and allow them to merge.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that SAR is tightly bound to defence. In fact we are always told that the SAR people are there to rescue military personnel, and only help with the rest of us for training purposes and if it's convenient.
ReplyDeleteSo yes, it should be kept as a core function and not sold off.
But remember the recent news item about how we would be doing more co-operation with the French in defence matters? It's all of a piece, isn't it.
Can you tel what it is yet?
Once it emerges properly from the fog, it will of course be the EU Defence Force. Tadaa!
And naturally, by then (if not now, courtesy of Lisbon), it will be part of EU Law and too late to change anything.
"...remember the recent news item about how we would be doing more co-operation with the French in defence matters? It's all of a piece, isn't it."
ReplyDeleteIndeed. You swallow the elephant in little pieces, after all...