Campaigners who object to the presence of secretive American spy base RAF Menwith Hill have called on the next MP for Skipton and Ripon to help shed light on what goes there.
Menwith Hill is on the edge of Nidderdale near Harrogate and is one of the United States’ largest overseas surveillance bases.
It features 37 giant radomes, or ‘golf balls’, which are a distinctive feature of the 600-acre site with much of the activity taking place underground.
The site was built in the 1950s and leased to the US during the height of the Cold War but it has continued to be used to support American military operations abroad including during the war on terror.
It’s also used by the UK’s intelligence agency GCHQ.
Leaked documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden identified Menwith Hill as providing the intelligence for a significant number of operations to “eliminate” targets in the Middle East.
Sarah Swift from the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she wants to see the UK’s parliament do more to scrutinise what goes on there and hold it accountable.
The group has organised its annual ‘Independence from America Day’ demonstration on July 4 at a layby near the base.
Ms Swift said:
Bearing in mind serious concerns about the UK’s involvement with the US in recent wars such as during Israel’s bombing of Gaza, I ask the candidates as a matter of urgency to call for US bases in the UK, especially so-called RAF Menwith Hill in our constituency, to be fully accountable to the UK parliament.
“The intelligence and security committee should have more information about what goes on at Menwith Hill.
"The concerns raised in their 2022-2023 report are alarming. Information should also be made available to MPs for the relevant constituencies.”
The most recent MP for the area, Julian Smith, spoke in the House of Commons in 2013 to say the Guardian newspaper should be prosecuted for publishing the Snowden leaks which he argued damaged national security.
However, other Yorkshire MPs have called for more transparency at Menwith Hill including Leeds-based Labour MPs Alex Sobel and Fabian Hamilton.
Former Bradford MP Bob Cryer, who died in 1994, was also an outspoken critic of the base and a memorial tree was planted near there by campaigners.
The annual ‘Independence from America Day’ demonstration at Menwith Hill will take place on Thursday July 4 from 5pm to 8pm.
The demonstration will include speakers and live music and will be held in the Kettlesing Head layby on the A59 Skipton Road.
More information about the event can be found at https://www.themhac.uk/
The eight candidates standing in Skipton and Ripon are as follows:
- Malcolm Birks – Labour
- Andy Brown – Green
- Simon Garvey – Reform UK
- Ryan Kett – Yorkshire Party
- Andrew Murday – Liberal Democrats
- Guy Phoenix – Heritage Party
- Julian Smith – Conservative
- Keith Tordoff – Independent
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