MPs hear call for permanent navy base in overseas territories

THE ROYAL Navy needs a permanent base in the overseas territories affected by Hurricane Irma to respond to future disasters, a former Foreign Office minister has said.

Sir Henry Bellingham told MPs that to build a base would send a “really strong signal of solidarity” to the territories.

Following an urgent statement on the Government’s response to the hurricane, Sir Henry asked Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan: “Does he agree there’s a need for a comprehensive fiveyear reconstruction package, and does he also agree that one of the lessons coming out of this disaster is the need for a permanent naval base in one of the OTs?

“If the French and Dutch can do it, and they both incidentally had two warships on standby before the hurricane, then surely we should do that and it would send a really strong signal of solidarity to the OTs.”

Sir Alan said a permanent base could be damaged by a future hurricane and hamper the relief effort.

He replied: “We do not directly govern the overseas territories, they govern themselves, whether it’s appropriate looking at the geography of any of them to have a permanent base is perhaps questionable but what we do is rotate our naval assets so as best to cover the danger of hurricanes and to be able to respond to them.”

Britain has sent hundreds of troops and 50 police officers to the British Virgin Islands after they were battered by the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic. HMS Britain’s biggest warship in service, is heading to the Caribbean and should be there within 10 days.