MARITIME safety campaigners voiced outrage yesterday after a Tory minister admitted as many as two out of three coastguard shifts are dangerously under-staffed.

Labour MP Katy Clark demanded action from cuts-crazed coalition ministers after extracting the figures from Tory transport under-secretary Stephen Hammond under parliamentary questions.

Brow-beaten Mr Hammond had already weathered campaigners’ ire over the coalition’s closures of Scotland’s Clyde and Forth coastguard stations in 2012, which handed over responsibility to Belfast's station.