Lossiemouth fights RAF move away from Moray

There are fears that defence cuts could see RAF Lossiemouth’s fleet of fast-jet Tornados moved to RAF Marham, in Norfolk.

Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, addressed the rally this afternoon, as well as Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray and Annabel Goldie, leader of the Scottish Conservatives.

Mr Salmond said before the rally: “The Westminster government must do more to support the most defence-dependent community in the UK in its hour of need.

“This goes far beyond Moray. It is a national issue of national importance to Scotland.”

Lossiemouth and the Highlands offer the very best training environment for Tornado crews. Ewan McGregor, actor

Actor Ewan McGregor, whose brother is a former Tornado pilot who served at RAF Lossiemouth, has warned that closing the base would be “devastating” to the local community.

The Star Wars star said he had himself flown in a Tornado piloted by his brother, Colin. He believed that “Lossiemouth and the Highlands offer the very best training environment for Tornado crews who continue to be the RAF’s front line in Afghanistan”.

Speaking on Sky News this morning, Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said he was sensitive to the needs of Moray.

Dr Fox suggested bases could be used to accommodate soldiers returning to the UK from Germany, while insisting no decisions had yet been made.

Lossiemouth and the politicians
The strange thing about this campaign to save RAF Lossiemouth is that no-one has said it's closing yet, writes Carl Dinnen for Channel 4 News.

The defence review has said RAF Kinloss will no longer be used by the air force, and two other bases will go (on top of RAF Cottesmore and RAF Lyneham which are already going). But that doesn't mean that Lossiemouth will be one of them.

Andrew Brookes of the Air League says there are effectively six Tornado squadrons staying, and RAF Marham - where the Lossiemouth campaigners fear the Tornados will go - only has room for four squadrons.

Speaking on Sky News this morning, the Defence Secretary Liam Fox said that the government would try to keep a "defence footprint" in areas where there already is one. That too suggests Lossiemouth might stay open, especially as the future looks bleak for nearby Kinloss.

In fact its hard to judge where the axe might fall as the army units returning from Germany will need to be put somewhere - although that's unlikely to be on the Moray Firth, which is a long way from their main training areas.

So what's the campaign about? Well, there are a lot of politicians involved...

Andrew Brookes, Director of the Air League, agreed that the army always likes to take RAF stations because the air force always spends a lot of money on accommodation.

But he told Carl Dinnen, for Channel 4 News, that the problem with the army moving into Lossiemouth accommodation was that “they’re a long way from where the army likes to do business”.

He said logistically it made no sense to move RAF Lossiemouth operations to Norfolk, and suggested there were many other candidates for closure in the UK.

It’s a beautiful place to train and to learn to fly. You give up RAF Lossiemouth at your peril. Andrew Brookes, Air League

Mr Brookes stressed that Lossiemouth was an ideal location for low-level flight training. “It is a beautiful place to learn to train and it’s a beautiful place to learn to fly,” he said.

“You give that up at your peril, ’cause you can’t come all the way down to the south of England. There aren’t the number of places where people are happy to see Tornados whizzing over it.”

The fate of nearby RAF Kinloss was effectively sealed in the strategic defence review last month when the new generation of Nimrods it had been awaiting were cancelled.