David Cameron has rejected a last-ditch plea from Scottish political leaders to reconsider the closure of an emergency rescue centre in Moray.
The prime minister’s refusal to back down, outlined in a letter to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, will be the final nail in the coffin for the Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC) at Kinloss.
The SNP, Scottish Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens joined forces in December in an effort to save the centre, which figures revealed has led more than 7,300 rescues in the last three years.
Ms Sturgeon wrote to Downing Street to ask Mr Cameron and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon to abandon the plan which cast doubt over the future of 27 RAF and 10 civilian jobs.
But the Conservative prime minister said that the closure will go ahead as planned – and that the decision was final.
Mr Cameron added that the location of the new base at Fareham would serve the entire country more efficiently, and that “brand-new” and “faster” helicopters would be purchased to strengthen the new operation down south.
“The relocation of the aeronautical rescue co-ordination centre to the National Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham will combine the aeronautical and maritime rescue co-ordination functions, resulting in a better service for those in distress,” a government spokesman added last night.
“The new UK search and rescue service will use brand-new, faster helicopters to cut average response times and provide a more reliable overall service.
“We are extremely grateful for the vital contribution the staff at Kinloss made over many years to helping those in peril and we are taking measures to support them.”
Staff at the Kinloss base oversaw 2,488 rescues in 2011, 2,389 in 2012 and 2,482 in 2013.
Moray MP Angus Robertson, who has fiercely opposed the plan from the outset, described the development as “devastating” news for Kinloss, Moray, and Scotland as a whole.
“David Cameron’s confirmation of the closure of the rescue centre means that vital search and rescue operations across the north of Scotland will now not be co-ordinated from Moray, but from hundreds of miles away in Hampshire,” he said.
“That cannot be allowed to threaten safety, but people will understandably have concerns about how this might affect life-saving search and rescue missions across Scotland.”
Mr Robertson claimed that Scotland now has the lowest military personnel numbers “in living memory” and said that defence spending cuts had reached a new low.
“This just underlines the extent to which Westminster is slashing defence capabilities across Scotland, by axeing bases and personnel,” he said.
“We have already seen numbers at Kinloss drastically cut through the crazy scrapping of the entire Nimrod Maritime Patrol fleet, and in Scotland as a whole we have the lowest military personnel numbers in living memory.
“UK ministers repeatedly scare-mongered about the effect they alleged independence could have on defence, yet it is they who are cutting our defence numbers to record low levels.”
Based at Kinloss since the merger of two ARCCs in 1997, the centre assists the emergency services by co-ordinating RAF, Royal Navy and coastguard search and rescue helicopters, as well as mountain rescue personnel.