Defence secretary says Britain’s efforts to help its Caribbean territories have been as good as any other country’s

Michael Fallon has defended the British response to Hurricane Irma against criticism that it has been less effective than that of other countries with territories in the Caribbean such as France and the Netherlands.

Responding to sharp attacks on the government’s handling of the crisis, the defence secretary said on BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show that the UK response, for which he is responsible, had been “as good as [that of] anyone else”. He also claimed that France had asked the UK for assistance.

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“We weren’t late, we pre-positioned a ship in the Caribbean for the hurricane season,” Fallon said. “It wasn’t by chance that Mounts Bay, a huge 16,000-ton aid ship with marines, with helicopter, with pallets of aid was in the Caribbean.

“She’s already been helping Anguilla, she’s already moved on to help the British Virgin Islands and it wasn’t until Thursday [that] we were clear about where most help was needed and we were clear which airfields were usable.”

Criticism of the UK’s preparations has been led by the chairs of two key select committees. The Conservative Tom Tugendhat and Labour’s Stephen Twigg, who chair the foreign affairs and development committees respectively, wrote on Friday that the British response “requires improvement” and said that it demonstrated an “apparent lack of forward-thinking”. Jeremy Corbyn also criticised the government.



Theresa May took personal charge of the government’s response to the devastation wrought by Irma in the British Caribbean on Friday, when she chaired an emergency meeting of Cobra and declared British troops were working around the clock to restore basic services and help victims.

Fallon rejected the criticism, saying that British troops and police had been deployed to restore law and order on the British Virgin Islands after reports of looting.

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Five hundred British troops have been sent to the region, with 120 stationed in the devastated British Virgin Islands.

Asked how big the looting problem was in the British territory, Fallon said: “There has been a security issue there and that’s why we’re now prioritising getting armed troops in and police coming in behind them to strengthen the local police force.



“You can understand the island has been devastated. It’s been difficult for people to move around until you get helicopters there, but there are troops now there assisting the governor to ensure law and order is maintained.”



Fallon said five airlifts had gone into the region on Friday and Saturday, with another three due on Sunday. He added that troops, police, medics and engineers were also being sent in.