Mark Formosa: Now let’s save UKHO jobs

MARK FORMOSA, the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Taunton Deane has welcomed news that a campaign to keep the UK Hydrographic Office in Taunton has been successful.

However, he warned that attention should now turn to making sure that none of the 1,000 jobs at the Admiralty chart makers were lost as a result of possible privatisation.

Mark Formosa said although the Defence Minister, Derek Twigg, had ruled out relocating the department to Exeter, he had now turned his attention to the ‘status’ of the business - which was a euphemism for considering privatisation. Mark reiterated the pledge made by George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, that a Conservative Government would both have kept the Hydrographic Office in Taunton and ensured it was not privatised.

Mark, who supported the campaign along with Conservative councillors on Taunton Deane Borough Council, and who took up the issue with the Shadow Cabinet, pointed out that the timing of the Minister’s announcement just a day before a General Election was to have been called, illustrated just how concerned was the Government that the Conservatives stood to win the Taunton Deane seat.

Mark Formosa said: “The timing of the announcement is an obvious ploy by the Government to deflect from what would have been a strong General Election campaign by the Conservatives in Taunton Deane. However, I welcome the announcement by the Government that the Hydrographic Office will remain in Taunton, although our attention must now turn to making sure that the Government does not try to cut jobs through partial-privatisation of the service, as the Minister has indicated is possible.”

“It still looks like the Government wants to privatise the commercial arm of the service which is making profits, while expecting it to continue providing the country with information of great strategic value for our national security. Any such move would result in heavy job losses for our area and must be resisted. If a business is owned by the Government and also makes a profit, how is that a bad thing?”