Sea Kings bow out
THREE Royal Navy Sea King helicopters have made their final flight before retirement, bringing to an end 49 years of service for the aircraft.
The helicopters, whose predecessors were introduced into service three weeks after the first moon landing, flew over Portsmouth Naval Base to their final destination of HMS Sultan in Gosport, Hampshire, where they will await disposal.
A total of 140 Sea Kings were built for the Royal Navy in their almost half-century of service. JEREMY CORBYN set out the most radical left-wing agenda of any mainstream party in a generation, as he declared that Labour now represents “the new common sense” and is ready to govern.
To fervent applause from delegates at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, Mr Corbyn called on Prime Minister Theresa May to call an early general election, which he said could see him in 10 Downing Street by this time next year.
The Labour leader said his party was “ready to take charge” and deliver “a real alternative to the people of Britain – a radical plan to rebuild and transform our country”.
Mr Corbyn set out plans for a “green jobs revolution” to create 400,000 skilled jobs in windfarms and home insulation; an extension of free childcare; workers’ seats on company boards, and the creation of employee shareholding funds.
He also called for an end to the “racket” of privatisation and outsourcing, and demanded public services with “fairness and humanity” at their heart.
Other plans included a new tax on second homes to pay for house-building and a foreign policy driven by “progressive values and international solidarity”, with no more “reckless wars, like Iraq or Libya”.
“Change in our country is long overdue,” said Mr Corbyn. “Every month this Government remains in power, the worse things get. We will rebuild the public realm and create a genuinely mixed economy for the 21st Century. And after a decade of austerity, the next Labour government will confront the challenge of rebuilding our public services.”
Union leader Mark Serwotka hailed Mr Corbyn’s programme as “a transformative and radical socialist vision for the country”. But business voiced alarm. The director general of the CBI, Carolyn Fairbairn, warned that “policy built on ideology and diktat” would “harm those who can least afford it by driving down investment, productivity and pay”.
At the end of a conference dominated by Brexit, Mr Corbyn confirmed that Labour will vote against Mrs May’s Chequers plan and keep the option of a second referendum on EU withdrawal “on the table”.
But he left no doubt that a general election is his preferred outcome, sending a message to the Prime Minister: “Brexit is about the future of our country and our vital interests. It is not about leadership squabbles or parliamentary posturing.
“If you deliver a deal that includes a customs union and no hard border in Ireland, if you protect jobs, people’s rights at work and environmental and consumer standards – then we will support that sensible deal. A deal that would be backed by most of the business world and trade unions too.
“But if you can’t negotiate that deal then you need to make way for a party that can.”
Conservative chairman Brandon Lewis said: “Jeremy Corbyn has shown at every turn he is unfit to govern. All he offers are failed ideas that didn’t work in the past.”