Plymouth  is the location the largest naval base in Western Europe, together with establishments for both the Army and the Royal Marines. Our city is home to thousands of service personnel and their families—and thousands more work in defence related industries. Many Plymouth veterans have served their country and continue to play an important part in our community.

I seek to represent all these interests in Parliament. I also have the privilege to sit on the Select Committee for Defence, watching over the work of the Ministry of Defence.

Five ways in which Linda Gilroy is supporting our troops & the Dockyard.

1. Working with Plymouth MPs and trade union representatives to meet with Treasury and Defence ministers to secure Devonport’s future. 
2. Membership of the Select Committee for Defence—holding the Ministry of Defence to account and keeping check of operations abroad.
3. Forming and chairing the Devonport Strategy Group—promoting and preserving Devonport Dockyard’s importance to the Royal Navy.
4. Undertaking the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme—a chance to meet soldiers, sailors and airmen face to face, see what they do and hear their concerns.  
5. Contributing to Plymouth’s Armed Forces & Veterans Week 2009  - honouring the city’s servicemen and women, past and present.

You can read my 'Defence Matters' Newsletters below:

Speeches and Resources:

• Linda's contribution of Defence Debate 1 March 2009 - here.
• Linda's speech on Plymouth's RAF & Allied Air Forces - here.
• Defence Policy Debate, 30 October 2008 - here.
• Defence in the UK Debate, 9 October 2008 - here.
• Westminster Hall debate on the Defence Select Committee's report into Medical Services for the Armed Forces - link.
• Linda's contribution to the Defence Procurement Debate on 19 June 2008 - link.
• Linda's House of Commons Adjournment debate on Devonport and the Royal Navy, 5 March 2008 - link.
• Linda's response to the Royal British Legion's 'Honour the Covenant Campaign', October 2008 - link.
• Linda's Community Information Sheet concerning nuclear issues - Nuclear Factsheet

The Royal Navy is not leaving Devonport Dockyard.

The recent written ministerial statement on the Maritime Change Programme confirms that there are no plans to change the base porting arrangements for any frigates currently based at Devonport in the forseeable future. In the longer term I will be campaigning vigorously for Devonport to be considered as base port for elements of the Future Surface Combatant programme.

Furthermore the statement outlines the Government’s intention for Devonport to become the primary location for deep maintenance and a centre of excellence for amphibious warfare.  1 Assault Group Royal Marines and 539 Assault Squadron, together with their associated landing craft, are set to be relocated from their current bases in Poole and Turnchapel into the naval base.

Giving the bulk of the deep maintenance on both submarines and ships to Plymouth is good news and it is what we have been pressing for over recent months.  This will bring more work to the dockyard because these refits are complex and time consuming.  This will also help us to retain a good skills base.

It is also good news that Plymouth will become a centre of excellence for amphibious warfare.  The kind of threats we currently face – and are likely to face in the future – call for flexible forces. It is precisely these kind of versatile expeditionary assets that will lie at the heart of what the Navy and the Marines do and I am delighted Devonport will have an integral role in supporting them.

This is a significant milestone. The City can now have a clear picture of what its very important defence sector, including the naval and dockyard activity but the wider defence and security sector, will look like in the coming decade. I will be calling on the City Development Company to ensure that we have a benchmark of where this now puts us – and a forward strategy for making the very most of this important part of our City’s economy.

All too often Plymouth talks itself down and fails to trumpet it many assets and successes. In the case of the dockyard, this air of negativity is almost as damaging as the uncertainty itself. Defence related businesses and companies will not want to invest in the City if locally we have unnecessarily written off our defence sector.  

Alison Seabeck and I have written to the Armed Forces Minister to seek further information - and to put the case for Plymouth to be home to the next generation of Future Surface Combatant. You can read the letter here:

• Deal Signed on Babcock-MOD Agreement: Devonport Guaranteed work for 15 Years
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• Linda Gilroy MP Welcomes Veterans Minister to Plymouth
  Linda Gilroy today welcomed Kevan Jones MP, Under Secretary of State for Defence, to Plymouth. The visit follows a Linda’s speech last year to mark the 25th Anniversary of...
  
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• Linda Gilroy welcomes Plymouth Forces Family Volunteers to Parliament
  Plymouth Sutton MP Linda Gilroy is today welcomed a group of volunteers from Plymouth's Friends and Families of Deployed Units (FAFDU) Support Group on a visit to Parliament. The visit...
  
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• Defence Minister to visit Dockyard
  Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell is in Plymouth today to visit Devonport Dockyard and the Naval Base. He will be accompanied on his visit by Plymouth Sutton MP Linda Gilroy...
  
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• Linda Gilroy To Visit French Warship
  Plymouth Sutton MP Linda Gilroy will tomorrow visit the French warship FS Premier Maitre L'Her. The corvette, named after a hero from the Second World War, is on a visit...
  
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• Linda Gilroy MP Visits HMS Raleigh
  Last Friday Plymouth Sutton MP Linda Gilroy visited the Royal Navy's premier training establishment HMS Raleigh. The visit was part of her attachment to the Royal Navy with the Armed...
  
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