I recently received an email from a local Conservative who wrote:
 
"This week the discredited Labour government have called upon the Royal Navy after successive years of turning their backs on the British armed forces and a Ministry of Defence that it has intentionally starved of cash at a time of multiple overseas commitments. 

A question that remains - which the Labour government have failed to answer - is this: with a fleet of transport aircraft as below, why are these not running a shuttle service to and from Gibraltar?

• C-17 Loadmaster - 5
• Hercules C1/C3 - 50*
• Hercules C4/C5 - 25*
• Tristar - 9
• VC10 - 15

It should be noted that 75 of these aircraft (72%) as indicated by the * in the list above would not be effected by the volcanic ash cloud in the upper atmosphere. Each of these aircraft can bring ~500 people with their luggage back to the UK meaning that - using the IATA estimate of 150,000 UK taxpayers overseas - means that in four shuttles back and for (achievable in less than 24 hours) all of the UK citizens overseas could be back in the UK. Another failed effort by the Labour government? 

On May 6th the people of the country have the opportunity to decide: do we re-elect the shysters who are interested in style over substance (e.g., running HMS OCEAN and HMS ARK ROYAL to Calais, rather than the RAF to Gibraltar) or do we elect a government who will be able to take the country forward?"

 
On a national level, Conservative Policy is clear and reinforces the views that we hold locally.  Our national policy states: 
 
"Labour have let down those who wear the uniform with such pride. Our Forces sacrifice and risk so much to do their duty by us. The least we can do in return is to do our duty by them. That is why we are today launching our Armed Forces Manifesto, which outlines how we will repair the Military Covenant and rebuild the bonds between the Forces and the people. We will:

• Give the Armed Forces clear leadership – we’ll hold a Strategic Defence and Security Review to make sure resources match commitments. In the meantime, we’ll protect the defence budget for 2010/11.
• Equip our Armed Forces properly – we’ll reform procurement so our Forces get the equipment they need when they need it, at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer.
• Support our servicemen and women – we’ll double the operational allowance, improve rest and recuperation leave and establish a tri-Service Military Covenant.
• Support service families and children – we’ll give Forces children extra support in school through the pupil premium, and provide college and university bursaries for the children of Forces personnel who have been killed.
• Support our veterans – with a new mental health screening process and a new ‘Troops for Teachers’ programme to get ex-service personnel into teaching."