Prime Minister Tony Blair made a special visit to BBC Radio Gloucestershire to field questions from local people. The questions posed for the PM included: The future of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment The loss of inpatient services in Cheltenham Payment by results in the NHS The £200 payment to pensioners The election campaign Single parent payments The loss of special schools in the county Tony Blair fielded questions on all the above topics and some of his answers can be found below... The first question is from Mike in Tewkesbury. He asks: In the aftermath of the latest round of defence cuts, the future of the Back Badge of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiments is in doubt. The Back Badge is much more than a piece of metal, it's the very core of the pride and integrity of this county. Will you personally, please, intervene to save our Back Badge? Tony Blair says:
I've just been answering some questions on this, Mike, and we are going to do our best to preserve the Back Badge. We know that people feel very strongly about the identity of the regiment. I just want to explain one thing because, obviously, this is an issue in different parts of the country. It isn't defence cuts that are driving this, because the defence expenditure is actually going up. What it is is the desire of the Army to have greater flexibility in the way that they move people across the regimental structure and what we're trying to do is to ensure that they get that flexibility while people retain the identity that's very important in places like Gloucestershire and elsewhere. Now I can't give a promise on the Back Badge but we are looking at it very carefully and I hope we will have good news on it.  |
I would just point out though that the restructuring that's been happening with the Regiments has been going on for many, many years. Now the Back Badge is, I know, what people consider the key identity for the Regiment and I think there is a way of making sure you preserve the identity whilst giving the Army the flexibility they want. I should actually just say in fairness that this isn't being driven by bureaucrats in Whitehall, it's being driven by people within senior ranks of the Army who want to ensure that the Army is a flexible and adaptable force for today's world but I totally understand the point that's being made. The next question is from Carol in Bishop's Cleeve: As a mother I'm very concerned about the loss of Children's Inpatient services in the Cheltenham General Hospital. Does the Prime Minister make a habit of turning his back on areas which aren't a Labour stronghold? Tony Blair replies:
First of all I should say that the reason I know a little bit about this and why this is being done is because there is a huge investment going into the Gloucester Hospital as you know. What is happening is that, as a result of the local health trust deciding that it was better to locate the inpatient specialist care on one site, they decided to locate it at Gloucester. My understanding is that at Cheltenham there will still be the paediatric assessment unit, it will open from nine in the morning until ten at night, and they will make provision for out of hours car as well. I should say to you that it is not actually a Government decision, it's the local trust that's doing this but in fairness to them I should say that this type of reorganisation goes on in every part of the country because sometimes people think - this is experts as well as bureaucrats - it is better to have one very, very good quality specialist care unit rather than have the specialist care divided in two sites. To listen to the full interview with Tony Blair, where he talks about local topics like special schools, the election campaign and single parent issues check out the audio below: Click below to see pictures of Tony Blair's visit to BBC Radio Gloucestershire. 
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Prime Minister Tony Blair came to BBC Gloucestershire on Thursday 17th March at 5.30pm for a special question and answer session...
