Defence Minister says security in Gulf still matters as he thanks sailors for Christmas duties
Defence Minister James Heappey has thanked personnel deployed to Bahrain over Christmas as he stressed the importance of the role that Britain's Armed Forces perform in the Gulf - saying security in the region was far from "yesterday's business".
Mr Heappy said the efforts of UK personnel and the theats they face in providing security in the region must not be forgotten.
Speaking onboard the Royal Navy's HMS Lancaster, which operates from Bahrain on a Gulf mission, Mr Heappey said: "This week I'm here in the Gulf saying thank you to our service personnel who are deployed here because it is an act of great sacrifice to be away from your family and friends at this time of year."
HMS Lancaster is deployed to provide security to international ships and prevent arms and drug smuggling in the Gulf.
In August, she became the second Navy warship to operate from Bahrain on a long-term mission, according to the Senior Service, and will not be seen in the UK for at least another three years.
Mr Heappey stressed the importance of the work personnel are doing in the region.
"Sometimes people can talk about this region, the Gulf, as if it's yesterday's business – that it stopped mattering when we weren't in Iraq, and we weren't in Afghanistan in the way that we had been 15 years ago. That's simply not true," he said.
"The threat that these people on board this ship face when they go out into the Persian Gulf, the job that they do in providing security in this region, to our friends all around the Arabian Peninsula is massively important."
Lancaster's 200-strong crew, which includes a Royal Marines boarding team and Wildcat helicopter flight, will rotate deployment with a second group in the UK every four months.
The 'forward deploying' enables the vessel to spend longer on patrol, carrying out maintenance works in the Middle East rather than travelling to and from the UK.
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