Tory Defence spokesman Robert Key was accused today of trying to stop hundreds of Defence Vetting Agency jobs coming to York.

The Government is planning to move the agency to Imphal Barracks to compensate for the loss of employment when the Army's 2nd Division HQ is shut down.

The division is being merged with the Edinburgh-based Scottish Division, and the new HQ sited in the Scottish capital with the loss of 200 jobs to York. Mr Key fiercely attacked the closure plans in an article written for the Evening Press last week.

But today, York MP Hugh Bayley claimed that Mr Key's aim is to stop the DVA moving to York from the south.

He claimed that during a conversation with Mr Key last week, the MP had argued against the move and said Hartsham in Wiltshire was a better location.

Mr Bayley said he had been astounded by Mr Key's comments. "Then the penny dropped. It is the age-old story of southern Tory MPs fighting to keep army jobs down south."

He challenged Mr Key to state publicly that he supports the DVA move to York.

Mr Key hit back strongly at Mr Bayley's "ridiculous" comments today, saying: "I am astonished that Hugh Bayley is seeking to turn this into a personality slanging match."

He denied he had made such comments during their conversation. "I don't know why his memory is false," he said.

Asked whether he supported York or Hartsham as the location for the DVA, he said he did not have a view, but said the agency's own board and chief executive had supported Hartsham but had been overruled by the Ministry of Defence.

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