I'm not sure that 'if we can't keep puma you can't have merlin' was ever the argument. The argument was always why go to the expense of heavily modifying an airframe, training umpteen crews on it and them retraining another umpteen crews on something else. The cost of accommodating the crews near to benson is an eye watering waste in itself. Still don't see why the new chinooks won't be able to make their way down to yeovilton. The same amount of boots on the ground in half the number of airframes and crew. Now that's balancing the books !