8:00am Monday 20th July 2009
AN MP and former Army captain has hit out at the Government over a lack of helicopters for British troops.
John Baron, Tory MP for Billericay, who served with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Germany, condemned the Government in the wake of the deaths of commander Rupert Thorneloe and Trooper Joshua Hammond.
The pair were killed in Afghanistan when a massive blast ripped through their army vehicle.
The soldiers had only been travelling in the poorly armoured Viking because there were no helicopters to fly them.
Speaking out in a Commons debate on the shortage, Mr Baron said: “The shortage is serious for a number of reasons.
“Not only must commanders on the ground be given the option of moving troops by air as well as by road, as we saw in Northern Ireland, but if there are not enough helicopters, many victories on the ground will become wasted if we do not dominate the ground afterwards.
“That is what we are currently seeing in parts of Afghanistan.”
After his speech, Mr Baron hit out at Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s decision to cut the Army’s helicopter budget by £1.4billion in 2004.
He added: “The number of our troops in theatre of war has doubled since 2006, but the increase in the number of helicopters has simply not kept pace.
“It is wrong of the Government to send our troops into battle without giving them all the support they need.”
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