This morning’s Western Mail claims that the future of the search and rescue service, which saves hundreds of lives each year, is in doubt because of spending cuts. They say that the project to replace the Sea King helicopters used by the service by the end of their lifespan in 2017 has been suspended and is being reviewed.
This does not mean that the project will not go ahead of course, just that the decision will be taken later than anticipated because, as with other projects approved by the outgoing Labour Government in its last days, the money was not there to finance it.
Nor should we believe that this has just arisen because of the present crisis or because we have a new government. I highlighted back in February my concerns at the way that this project was proceeding. At that time the Ministry of Defence was proposing to cut the availability of the Chivenor search and rescue helicopter from 24 hours to 12, which would have led to longer response times to emergencies across South Wales, putting lives at risk.
What is clear is that a decision is needed fairly quickly on the future of this service so as to put people’s minds at rest. The chances are that this will emerge in October as part of the comprehensive spending review. It cannot be allowed to drift much later than that,.
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