Compulsory MoD redundancies ‘a red line’ for Picardo

The Gibraltar Government will not accept compulsory redundancies at the Ministry of Defence in Gibraltar, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said yesterday.

Mr Picardo was reflecting on MoD plans to reduce its locally-employed civilian workforce against the background of wider cuts across the UK’s military infrastructure worldwide.

Speaking on GBC radio as part of an Open Democracy programme, Mr Picardo said he had written to the UK Prime Minister immediately after the referendum vote last June 23 and, as a result of that, “the whole issue was paused” for three months.

“I know that the MoD now want to continue with the process of implementing a new operating model,” he told GBC.

“I don’t want to see any job be taken out of the Gibraltar economy,” he said.

“What certainly the Government of Gibraltar would not accept is any compulsory redundancies.”

“That would be a real red line for us where we would find ourselves at odds with the Ministry of Defence.”

The MoD has yet to confirm any plans to reduce its workforce here, although an announcement is expected in the coming days.

Photo by David Parody

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