McMillan Attends Coastguard Briefing in Parliament

SNP MSP Stuart McMillan attended the Coastguard briefing in Parliament this evening organised by his SNP colleague, Alasdair Allan MSP (Western Isles). This briefing followed on from the event that took place in Port Glasgow Town Hall last week.

Speaking afterwards Stuart said:

"The briefing was attended by more than 10 MSPs and was yet another opportunity for all MSPs to highlight their concerns about the proposals put forward by the UK Coalition Government.

"As we know in Inverclyde, the Navy Buildings in Greenock will be one of the casualties of the proposals with 2 large super centres and some smaller centres to be used across the whole of the UK.

"Tonight confirmed what I previously thought, these proposals are nothing short of a cost cutting drive and safety concerns are not uppermost in the minds of the UK Government.

"It is beyond belief that the Greenock facility will be adversely affected with the vast range of maritime traffic it covers. Also, it was interesting that tonight it was admitted that if the agency were starting afresh, it would be inconceivable for the central belt of Scotland not to have a fully operational coastguard station.

"I raised a number of issues this evening including the resilience of the existing system as well as simulation of the proposed new system.

"The answers I received highlighted to me that there is no case whatsoever for removing services from Greenock."