Campaign calls on new MP to shed light on spy base

The "golf balls" at RAF Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire are a famous local landmark

Campaigners who object to a top secret spy base in North Yorkshire have called on the next MP for the area to help shed light on what goes on there.

RAF Menwith Hill, which is on the edge of Nidderdale, near Harrogate, gathers electronic intelligence and is operated by US and UK staff.

Sarah Swift, from the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign, said whoever was elected as the new MP for Skipton and Ripon on 4 July must ensure all US bases in the UK were "fully accountable to the UK parliament".

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said all activities at Menwith Hill were managed "in accordance with the agreements made between the UK and United States governments".

37 giant radomes, or ‘golf balls’, are a distinctive feature of the 600-acre site

The Menwith Hill site was built in the 1950s and leased to the US during the height of the Cold War.

The site's 37 giant radomes, known locally as "golf balls", are a distinctive feature of the 600 acre (2.4 sq km) site, which is also used by the UK’s GCHQ intelligence agency.

It has continued to be used to support American military operations abroad, including during the "War on Terror" following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the USA.

Leaked documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden identified RAF Menwith Hill as providing the intelligence for a significant number of operations to “eliminate” targets in the Middle East.

Ms Swift told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that campaigners wanted whoever became the new MP for Skipton and Ripon following the 4 July general election to hold those involved in operating the site accountable.

She 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 to be fully accountable to the UK parliament."

RAF Menwith Hill was built in the 1950s and leased to the US in the Cold War

The area's most recent MP, Julian Smith, for the Conservatives, spoke in the House of Commons in 2013 saying the Snowden leaks damaged national security.

However, other Yorkshire MPs have called for more transparency about RAF Menwith Hill, including former Leeds Labour MPs Alex Sobel and Fabian Hamilton.

The late Bradford Labour MP Bob Cryer, who died in 1994, was also an outspoken critic of the base.

Responding to the calls by the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "RAF Menwith Hill is part of a worldwide US Defence communications network, with the base supporting a variety of communications activity.

"We have close civilian and military cooperation with US forces and manage all base activities in accordance with the agreements made between the UK and United States governments.”

The  full list of general election candidates for Skipton and Ripon is as follows:

• Malcolm Birks, Labour

• Andy Brown, Green

• Simon Garvey, Reform UK

• Ryan Kett, The Yorkshire Party

• Andrew Murday, Liberal Democrat

• Guy Phoenix, Heritage Party

• Julian Smith, Conservative

• Keith Tordoff, Independent

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