British forces would struggle to mount small military intervention, claim officers

British forces would struggle to mount even a small scale military intervention as the cupboard for resources was threadbare.
 
The chances of an operation to rescue civilians from conflicts like Libya would become remote as more and more equipment is pushed out of service under defence cuts. 
 
Instead of supporting defence the ConDem government will cuts supplies and decimate civilian jobs that offer value for money support and committment to the front line; jobs and defence support will either be sold off or cut. 
 
Military experts wrote to the Prime Minister on the 29th January 2011, as detailed in The Telegraph today saying that "The publicly declared proposition that ‘the risks inherent in the currently envisaged Defence structure are acceptable’ seems to us to be unduly trusting in an uncertain, fast moving and dangerous world". 
 
It is clear that the government is not listening to anyone other that the people and companies that fund them.
 
It is time for our government to listen to the ordinary workers whose lives they are destroying through the politically driven public sector cuts.

 

Baroness Eaton urges public sector pensions rethink

The top Tory in local government has urged Chancellor George Osborne to rethink plans to make public sector workers pay more into their pensions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12516645

Defence Estates scrapped by reform unit to form the Defence Infrastructure Organisation

The creation of a new organisation to manage Defence property has been announced today.

Defence Estates is to be absorbed into a new body which will manage defence property, saving the Ministry of Defence an estimated £1.2bn by 2015.

Around 2,500 jobs are to go by 2014 as a result of the creation of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO).

The move accounts for around 10 per cent of the 25,000 civilian jobs to be cut by 2015.

The DIO will take on the responsibilities of Defence Estates, which currently spends some £2bn each year, managing around 240,000 hectares of land and property on behalf of the MOD.

Estate rationalisation,  efficiency measures and job losses appear to be the way forward. 

The private sector must be rubbing their hands together.

Sacking soldiers by email likely to happen again

Since the defence review announcement, PCS has been warning that incidents like this would happen as the MoD start to cut 25,000 civilian posts and 17,000 military jobs.

Both the previous and the current governments must take their share of the blame. The previous administration left defence in a perilous position and the coalition has conducted a rushed defence review that is driven by cuts rather than strategy.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: 

"This is a shameful way to treat staff, whether civilian or military. But cutting 42,000 personnel from the MoD will worsen rather than improve the armed forces.

The armed forces minister claims there is no painless way to make cuts, but we believe there is an alternative, and the government should invest in our public services and target the wealthy who avoid and evade paying tens of billions of pounds in taxes every year.

This would allow us to have a properly funded and resourced MoD, as well as properly funded public services for all.

The alternative for the MoD is to cut back on the wasteful use of private consultants and allow civilian staff to fill non-essential military posts, which would free up service personnel for the frontline."

Pensions Robbery

Public sector workers are facing a pensions tax as the government tells them to pay more for less.

Hundreds of thousands of workers are facing a doubling of their pension contributions which will go straight into the coffers of the Treasury to pay off the debts caused by greedy bankers.

The government is proposing that, from next year, the pension contributions of civil servants, teachers, university lecturers, and others will increase by an average of 3%.

But this is a con. The civil service pension schemes were renegotiated in 2005 and are sustainable, in fact the costs are falling.

So the extra contributions from workers themselves are not necessary and will go straight to the Treasury, not the pension schemes, where the government is obsessed with reducing the deficit rather than investing for jobs and growth.

And while reckless fat cat bankers who caused the recession walk away with big bonuses, public sector workers will have to pay many thousands of pounds more for pensions which will be smaller because of a change in the way they are calculated.

That’s why unions are considering joint action against these plans.

There is an alternative

• Every year £120 billion of tax is avoided, evaded,or uncollected
• Instead of cutting jobs the Revenue and Customs should employ more tax compliance officers – each one collects £658,000 annually
• The government should invest in job creation in socially useful areas like housing to create economic growth
• Read the union’s financial proposals
• More on our tax justice campaign 

Lib Dem leaders rebel over coastguard cuts

The president of the Liberal Democrats and two former party leaders have called on the coalition government to step back from plans to close ten coastguard stations.

 

Tim Farron, who became president of the party last month, has joined Charles Kennedy and Menzies Campbell – the two previous leaders of the Lib Dems – in signing a PCS-backed parliamentary motion opposing the plans.

The stations earmarked for closure are at Clyde, Forth, Yarmouth, Thames, Portland, Brixham, Milford Haven and Holyhead.

They would be joined by Shetland or Stornoway, and Liverpool or Belfast.

The Early Day Motion – a type of parliamentary petition – refers to fears about safety and the economic impact of losing 220 jobs from coastal communities.

So far 84 MPs have signed – including four Conservatives and 13 Liberal Democrats who would usually support the coalition.

More than 1,000 people have written to their MPs in support of the coastguards.

MPs targeted by campaign over forests

PCS and other unions will be holding a drop-in briefing for politicians - and urge everyone who supports saving the forests to write to their MP asking them to attend and to sign a parliamentary motion about the issue.

More than 494,000 people have already signed a petition on the 38 degrees campaigning website against the sell-off.

Last week senior Scottish politicians joined a protest in Edinburgh after it was announced that 150 jobs are under threat at the commission HQ in the city - and 300 more in England.

So far 47 MPs from five different parties have signed an early day motion – a type of parliamentary petition - expressing “alarm” at the plans.

The motion says environmental and public health initiatives will be put in jeopardy by the sell-off and adds there is evidence that rights of way have been lost under private ownership of former Forestry Commission land.

The briefings for MPs will be in room W1 at the House of Commons, between 10.30am and noon on Wednesday 16 February.

www.pcs.org.uk

Councils defeat government over school buildings cuts

The government has been defeated in the High Court over the way it scrapped part of England's school building programme.

The education secretary's decision to axe Buildings Schools for the Future (BSF) projects in six local authority areas was ruled unlawful as he failed to consult on it.

What does this show: its show the government can be defeated and the government is willing to break the law.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12429152

First minister vows support in RAF Leuchars campaign

The Scottish government will "stand shoulder-to-shoulder" with campaigners fighting to save two RAF bases, First Minister Alex Salmond has promised.

Mr Salmond attacked the UK government's "completely unacceptable" plan to delay a decision on the closure of the Leuchars and Lossiemouth bases.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-12432348