It would be heartwarming to think the Govt knew or cared enough about SAR and emergency service provision to even consider a joined up structure for the UK - the fact that we do have lots of empires all pulling in different directions points to a different outlook entirely.
Many of the suggestions above might work, even in the UK, but they are not going to happen and instead we are left with the flawed SARH process which, in terms of what was promised and what will be delivered, is tantamount to fraud.
The detractors of military SAR forget that without it you would have been held to ransom by a commercial operator long ago and would not have had the operational capability that comes from being able to operate to military rules and regulations - the CAA still hasn't come up with the solution to NVG overland ops into unrecced sites.
My objection is not to being civilianised - it is the only way to bring new investment in equipment because the military are utterly disinterested in owning SAR - it is the capability reduction that has already been sanctioned and what more will come due to operating costs that worries me.
Unfortunately the MoD are happy with the process because they don't pay the full cost (70%) until all the mil flights are rolled over so it counts as money available now (planned purchase of Chinooks I believe) and worry about the real costs in another 5 or 6 years.
It would appear that the MPs for the Boulmer, Chivenor and Portland areas were already briefed up on the partial closures long before the news broke so writing to your MP to complain is probably a waste iof time.
The SARH process should undergo Commons select committee scrutiny to ensure that all the fudges and dodgy dealing is made public.