All at sea
Even if the decision to scrap fewer than 10 rescue stations represents only a partial volte-face, it is still an embarrassing one given the fullscale U-turn over the forestry sell-off and the “pause” on reform of the NHS. It adds weight to the suggestion that coalition cuts are back-of-the-envelope stuff, rather than the considered analysis which they were presented as being.
The original plan to cut the number of coastguards from 19 to nine put not just livelihoods, but lives, at risk. It was a short-term and penny-pinching measure saving only £20m by 2015 – a drop in the ocean when set against this country’s trillions of pounds of debt.
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Hide AdIf Mr Hammond, a Surrey MP and landlubber, wants to know how much Britons value the people who keep them safe at sea, all he has to do is wind down the window of one of his cars and listen to what they say.