Tories hit back at Future Lynx claims (From Yeovil Express)

Tories hit back at Future Lynx claims

12:36pm Tuesday 22nd July 2008 in News By Steve Sowden

CONSERVATIVES have hit back at claims that they are not supporting the Future Lynx project - a contract which is vital to Yeovil company AgustaWestland.

LibDem Yeovil MP David Laws yesterday urged Defence Secretary Des Browne to give a green light to the contract before the August holidays.

And Mr Laws claimed that Tory MP Douglas Carswell suggested that the Future Lynx should be cancelled - which would be disastrous for the Yeovil helicopter factory.

But the claims that the Tories are not backing the Future Lynx project have been rebuked by the Conservative’s would-be MP for Yeovil, Kevin Davis.

Mr Davis has instead said the LibDems have recently shown that their plans would include taxing the middle classes and reduce taxes on the poor by cutting Government spending – including, as reported by the BBC, the “curtailing of big defence projects.”

And he added: “For months the LibDem MP for Yeovil has been telling us that the Future Lynx project is vital to the future of the town’s largest employer.

“But secretly his party is planning a review of big defence projects that would surely mean a decision about them cutting it.”

Mr Davis has written the Conservative’s Shadow Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, for his views on the Future Lynx project.

And he said: "Dr Fox told me that it is absolutely vital that we improve our battlefield helicopter capability and right now the only game in town is Future Lynx."