Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has claimed that he has ordered an urgent review into why only one aircraft is available for a mass parachute drop to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
Hundreds of paratroopers were supposed to jump into Normandy on June 5 to honour the actions of their predecessors in the Second World War, but the plans have been scaled back due to a shortage of aircrafts.
Speaking about the shortage, Defence Secretary and MP for Welwyn and Hatfield, Grant Shapps told GB News: "I do think it's incredibly important to remember the past and if we don't do that then we essentially commit ourselves to making the same mistakes again in the future.
“I have ordered a review of that immediately. It is the case, of course, that these aircraft are being used in a more difficult troubled world, including to drop aid into Gaza. They're very heavily used for that. So I'll have a look at the resources.”
Grant Shapps said that we need to do D-Day properly
GB News
He added: "I absolutely agree about needing to make sure we do it properly, not just because this is a display, but because it commemorates something.
"I was in Italy meeting my opposite number and we were talking about Monte Casino, which is a big commemoration there.
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"It's important that D-Day is remembered properly here. It will be by the way. Both in in in Portsmouth and in in France.
"I want to make sure it's done properly. Come back to the decisions that I'm afraid pre-date my time.
"We do have some very good 400 heavy lift aircraft with about 1.4 million tonnes of lift ability. So we actually have a lot of lift ability in the RAF.
"We know several live wars are going on and they are being used for those purposes, but I'm quite sure to commemorate something as significant as D-Day we can do a bit better than that. And I've undertaken to make sure we do. "
It has been reported that only one aircraft is available for a mass parachute drop
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Asked about pro-Palestinian protests in London, he said: “It worries me, It worries the Government a lot. I was pleased to see that ten or so arrests yesterday were made.
“We have said in the past, I think the police need to be very much all over these things.
"And we see the impact on people. It makes people feel very uncomfortable.
Grant Shapps spoke to Emily Carver on GB News
GB News
“When these marches sometimes spill over from the legitimate right to protest and make a point.
"That is not an issue, when they spill over into anti-semitism, when they spill over into hate speech, racism, that is where there is a problem and we absolutely back 100 per cent police taking the necessary action.
“I see now that they have charged hundreds and hundreds of people over the last few months and there were a significant number of arrests yesterday, which I think was the right way to deal with these things.”