Bomber Command Memorial trustees...

[fantom]

...could be in hock for half a million and, maybe, lose their houses?

If this is an un-intentional consequence of something, then it should be fixed pdq.

[Wander00]

ISTR that making the project VAT-exempt would solve the problem

[mymatetcm]

What about the 40 million rail franchise fiasco, this money for the memorial unveiling should be wrote off like the 40m will be for the rail civil serpent mess up.

[PPRuNe Pop]

This article shows clearly that the government can 'find' huge sums when required but nothing for the sacrifices that Bomber Command and its lost 55,573 made. All volunteers. Where is this goverment's mis-placed reasoning coming from?

The Final Betrayal: How ministers have left Bomber Command veterans with a bill that could ruin them | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2212526/The-Final-Betrayal-How-ministers-left-Bomber-Command-veterans-ruin-them.html)

The final betrayal indeed.

[lj101]

Can't we open a "just giving" account to help pay for it? A 92 year old shouldn't have to worry about this debt.

[Pontius Navigator]

Good old Mail, all yesterday's news from the Telegrapgh who probably nicked it from the Sun.

[charliegolf]

I suspect that airing the threat will be sufficient. It won't happen.

CG

[Chugalug2]

Yesterday's news indeed PN, but still very much today's for the trustees who face ruin. There seem to be two sources of shortfall that HM Govt. have imposed on them; VAT and Opening Ceremony costs. I say imposed because it is they that levy both and it is they that should cough up both. The Opening Ceremony costs are mainly due to the massive security required for the Royal Attendance there. Is that the obligation of 90+ year old veterans, or of the State? There has to be a limit to the shedding of obligations because "there is no money left" and this is glaringly way past that. I suggest the mass lobbying of MPs is called for. They don't like enraged constituents Mr Mainwaring, they don't like it at all!
Edited to add that this e-petition re the VAT has only a few days left before closing 10/10/12:-
Remove VAT On The Bomber Command Memorial - e-petitions (http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/17967)

[Hugh Spencer]

As an ex-aircrew of WW2, should I sell my house for £200,000 to give to the fund. Then I can go into a care home at a cost to the government of £500 per week or £24,000 per year. Something is wrong somewhere!

[mmitch]

'Captain Hook's' legal aid cost about twice what they owe.
Got their priorities right. :(
mmitch.

[chippy63]

Disgraceful ,but not surprising.

The Con Party conference is about to start in Birmingham. How about a few well placed banners to shame Cameron & Co? Meanwhile, our cash continues to flow out to Rwanda and the like.

Meanwhile, I've spoken to my MP, and sent a CAF cheque to the BCMF at the RAF Museum, Hendon, London NW9 5LL

If push comes to shove, let's organise a collection campaign, tin-rattling at Tesco, Asda, etc. I'd certainly be happy to work on that in the Winchester area.

[goofer3]

This situation was discussed on the Jeremy Vine show today on BBC Radio 2. It is available on the iPlayer. Jump to 1.39.20 to avoid having to listen to the earlier part of the show. Harry Irons explained their position.

[taxydual]

Report from the Daily Mail. (Let's hope they are right about this one).

Victory: After Mail appeal, PM WILL pay for Bomber Command tribute | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2213164/Victory-After-Mail-appeal-PM-WILL-pay-Bomber-Command-tribute.html)

[Chugalug2]

Thanks taxydual, a perfect prop for an email to my MP stating how glad I am to read of HMGs Damascene Conversion at last. Twice as embarrassing for it if the story is to be denied! :ok:
TheyWorkForYou: Hansard and Official Reports for the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament, and Northern Ireland Assembly - done right (http://www.theyworkforyou.com/)

[Hugh Spencer]

Yes, good news.

[Wander00]

If that is how it works out, it will be the good and correct result. However, politicians and others should be ashamed of themselves that it got this far

[Archimedes]

A good outcome - but the one which the PM made clear would happen if required before the memorial was even unveiled. If you look at Hansard, 13 June 2012, Column 319:



The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. Many people served in Bomber Command during the second world war and many lost their lives, so it is right that there will be this splendid memorial, unveiled by Her Majesty the Queen. These memorials tend to be paid for by public subscription and that is what has happened in this case, but I will look carefully at what my hon. Friend says. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport does have the ability to intervene, especially when monuments and other things are done on a national basis for a national purpose. I am sure that the Culture Secretary will have listened carefully to what my hon. Friend said.



What his Hon Friend (the MP for Gloucester) had asked was whether the government would step in to cover the funding gap.

Cognoscenti of Yes, Prime Minister and the work of Peter Henessey will spot that

1. 'I will look carefully' = I didn't have advanced warning of this question, therefore cannot give a definitive yes or no on the record in case there is something critical of which I am unaware...
2. ...but what my Hon Friend says seems entirely sensible
3. So, Secretary of State for Culture, make sure that you have a plan in place to provide the money to cover the shortfall if the need arises.

This makes me wonder whether (a.) something happened between 13 June and recently or (b.) - and I fear this might be the case - the Mail and Telegraph decided that there was an opportunity to bash Cameron, and rather than ask No 10 if the statement of 13 June meant what it appeared to, thus permitting them to reassure the veterans and run a good news story about this, they decided to ignore the signs that the veterans weren't going to be allowed to face financial ruin and ran the story they way they did? Perhaps my experiences with the press have made me unduly cynical... (although I will grant you that someone from DCMS really ought to have told the veterans that the PM's answer meant that they weren't going to be sold down the river. Then again, perhaps the conversation last night went along the lines of 'what part of my answer on 13 June did you not manage to drawn the correct inferences from?/Ah, sorry, Prime Minister'...

But whatever the machinations, at least the right result has been arrived at.

[chippy63]

Only a cynic would connect Cameron's response to the fact that the Conservative Party conference is about to start.