The claim
“We want to make changes only if they improve the Coastguard support that people in fishing communities and elsewhere get.”
David Cameron MP, Prime Ministers’ Questions, March 30, 2011
The background
The next time RAF Search and Rescue pilot Prince William plucks someone from the Irish Sea, he could be relying on the skills of a Coastguard based more than 300 miles away in Aberdeen.
Little wonder then, that the Prince is understood to have “politely” criticised the cuts to Coastguard services to David Cameron personally.
The government plans to shut 10 of the UK’s 18 Coastguard coordination stations, including Liverpool’s Crosby – where Prince William’s team at RAF Valley receives the majority of its coastal call outs from, FactCheck has discovered.
The Maritime and Coastguard (MCA) workforce – which commands and coordinates rescue operations from these stations – is set to be culled by 48 per cent – or 250 jobs.
(Above: Channel 4 News reporter Jane Dodge goes out to sea with a lifeboat currently based in Southport)
Three 24-hour stations at Aberdeen, Dover and Southampton, supported by five sub-centres, will replace the old network in a bid to shave £7.5m a year from the £35m Coastguard bill.
The government is running a consultation on the proposals, which is due to end on May 5th.
But can the proposed cuts deliver improvements to the level of Coastguard support, or will Mr Cameron be forced into an embarrassing u-turn? FactCheck investigates.
The analysis
Prince William is not the only one who’s worried. Mersey MPs, European shipping unions and the coastguards themselves have warned that thousands of lives could be at risk if the region’s coastguard station at Crosby is closed.
Liverpool is the biggest port for trade between Britain and Ireland, handling more than 40 per cent of all freight crossing the Irish Sea, along with half a million passengers a year.
And it’s growing. Liverpool is set to become the hub of the UK’s offshore renewable energy sector.
A floating Liquid Natural Gas plant is due to be constructed off the Morecambe Bay, which will see the passing of huge LNG ships; and a wind farm twice the size of the Isle of Man is to be built in the Irish Sea 43 miles offshore from Liverpool.
A coastguard spokesman told FactCheck that the Liverpool MCA centre, which defied government closure 10 years ago, is the most up-to-date of all UK centres. It has seen nearly £2m of public money spent on a purpose-built rescue centre, which is the cheapest centre in the country to run.
So why shut it down? Sources familiar with the matter have told FactCheck that the Coastguard centre has not been party to the consultation process. Indeed, the centre has been lucky to get one visit a year from senior management, we were told.
Local campaigners today argued that the proposal to close Crosby Coastguard Station is a political move to avoid shutting Belfast’s centre.
“The MCA was told that it was either Liverpool or Belfast, and Belfast is sensitive politically – so it’s the preferred option to stay open,” Alfie Hincks of Seascope Marine Services told FactCheck.
Union members have warned the government that casualty rates have increased by 26 per cent, with 1,803 incidents reported last year to Crosby’s Coastguard 22-man centre.
Josh Fenton-Glynn, from the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), told FactCheck: “There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding what these centres do. 999 calls are logged in a centre and sent to an emergency service who’ll take charge. But Coastguards are different. That person on the end of the phone will lead the operation, instructing the rescuers who are sent out, navigating them – commanding them and their sea safety.”
Local knowledge is therefore hugely important, he said.
Mr Fenton-Glynn also pointed out that much of a Coastguard’s job centres around preventative measures – taking ships logs, offering safety advice to mariners and so on. These functions “will almost certainly be lost” if local Coastguards are replaced, he said.
But the Department for Transport argues that “coastguards haven’t used binoculars for years”, and insists that local knowledge will be shared on a national network, which will be aided by the latest technology and GPS.
Isolated, stand-alone Coastguards with no resilience, will be transformed into a network of linked up rescue centres the DfT says. However, the DfT admitted to FactCheck that it is not clear yet how local knowledge will be pooled.
The verdict
The Department for Transport says the cuts have nothing to do with the Spending Review.
Shipping Minister Mike Penning told FactCheck: “Our proposals are in response to a long-overdue need to bring the way Coastguard rescues are coordinated into the 21st century, making this vital rescue service stronger.”
Indeed, the current Coastguard organisation dates back some 40 years – it needs to respond to the growing number of renewable energy platforms cropping up off Britain’s shores.
But last week Mr Cameron promised the reforms would only be approved if they improve the current service. “That is what the reform is about: trying to ensure that the real impetus is on the front line. If that is not the case, we will obviously have to reconsider the reforms, and that is why they are being reviewed,” he said.
Yet, it is not clear to FactCheck how scaling the service back and cutting its staff members in half, will even maintain the service. Nor is it clear to Sefton Central MP Bill Esterton, who has called for an independent review to make sure the public’s safety isn’t compromised.
Mr Cameron has admitted that: “I have been lobbied extensively about air-sea rescue by people from all walks of life.”
And with even Prince William muscling in, perhaps it’s time to listen. If the government can’t prove the service will be maintained, let alone bettered, the case for reform should be scuttled.
By Emma Thelwell
