SNP PRESSURE EXTENDS MoD UIST JOBS DEADLINE.

SNP PRESSURE EXTENDS MoD UIST JOBS DEADLINE.

The Ministry of Defence have agreed to extend the consultation period over proposed cuts to defence jobs in Uist. The decision follows a request from SNP MSP Alasdair Allan with the support of the Uist Taskforce and Scottish Government.

Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Quentin Davies MP, has agreed to Mr Allan’s request and announced that the consultation period will be extended by 15 working days to end on the 20^th August 2009 instead of the 29^th July.

Dr Allan commented:

“I made the point to the MOD in a letter of the 17^th June that the consultation period proposed, ending on 29 July, was unacceptably short for the various interested agencies to formulate as in-depth a contribution as they would wish under the circumstances.

“This is a point which has similarly been made by the Uist Taskforce and by Finance Secretary John Swinney who wrote to the Ministry of Defence about this subject this week.

“While there is still a big campaign ahead of us this small but significant step shows what the community can do when acting together and allows us all time to make an even stronger argument for the retention of these jobs.”