| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
8.17 pm
Mr. John Smith (Vale of Glamorgan): It is an honour to be called after the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Bell), who speaks with great authority. I remember his memorable statement that we have the best little army in the world. I agree with that statement, and I would extend it slightly and say that we also have the best little air force and the best navy in the world.
I am perhaps one of the few hon. Members who owe a great personal debt of gratitude to our armed forces. I am one of the many thousands of young people who benefited at an early age from the opportunity of joining our fine services, and who were able to build a future. We were able to gain discipline, self-respect and self-confidence, which is hard for many young men and women to achieve. We should recognise more often that vital role that our armed services play.
It is also a pleasure to speak, albeit briefly, on the strategic defence review. It is a tribute to the defence team, and to the review itself, that the speeches have been curtailed: the fact that so many hon. Members on both sides of the House have wanted to participate must constitute a record in itself.
The Government should be congratulated on the review, which I consider to be one of the few genuine defence reviews that we have had since the war. I do not doubt that Ministers have wanted to conduct strategic defence reviews, but the fact is that, by and large, they have failed, and many of their good intentions have resulted in the worst possible outcomes. This, however, has been a genuine review: it has been bipartisan from day one.
I remind the House that Opposition Members--members of all parties, indeed--were invited to take part in genuine consultation last year. That consultation included not only all Members of Parliament but members of the armed forces, members of the public, trade unions and industrialists, on an open and transparent basis. That, I think, provided the review with a firm foundation.
That, incidentally, is why I think that there has been so much unnecessary hoo-hah about the absence of a foreign policy baseline. All hon. Members are fully aware of the policy baseline on which the review has been conducted.
That is largely because it was set up by the Secretary of State last September, but it is also because, if truth be known, we all agree on the fundamentals of that baseline. They are our commitment to defend this country; our commitment to defend our dependent territories; our commitment to NATO; and our commitment to our leading role internationally. We do indeed have the best forces in the world, and that allows us to have a role in the world that is perhaps greater than the role to which we would otherwise be entitled. That, surely, is a valuable asset, to which we should cling. We have other commitments: our commitment to the United Nations and our role in it, our membership of the Security Council and our commitment to a minimum nuclear deterrent.
I do not think that many hon. Members would disagree with what I have said. What we have is a genuine review, based on consensus and bipartisan in nature, which sets out to reconfigure the country's forces to enable it to meet its defence commitments.
It is a mistake to think that the present Government inherited circumstances in which we merely required a review. We did not merely require a review; we had to inherit the mess created by earlier Governments--the gaps in our forces that created the overstretch and lack of morale in our forces. During that period, there were real cuts of 30 per cent. The proportion of gross domestic product spent on defence was cut from 5.3 per cent. to 2.8 per cent., and there was a manpower cut from nearly 750,000 to 400,000. Gaps were created in our ability to meet our defence commitments in the world, which put unacceptable pressure on our brave service men and women.
Hon. Members have mentioned the virtual collapse of the medical support services, the absence of an acceptable ability for heavy lift to reach the front line, shortages in second-line logistics and support, and gaps of 5,000 in service establishments in the Army--gaps that were unacceptable and which put pressure on our service men and women. The strategic defence review has addressed those issues, and addressed them clearly.
I considered yesterday's speech by the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Maples) completely unacceptable. Unlike most Opposition speakers, he, in his desperation, uttered not a word of support for, or in recognition of, the value of the review to our service men and women and to the country. The review has, however, received the unanimous support of the Defence Council, private and public support from the Chiefs of Staff, widespread support from the public and--perhaps most important--support from the international community. I have the honour of representing the House on the NATO parliamentary assembly. I assure hon. Members that colleagues throughout the other NATO states have given due respect and recognition to the review, and have asked us how we managed to achieve what we did.
We have heard about the statements that have come from one end of the world: Russia. When an all-party delegation from the British-American parliamentary group visited the Pentagon recently, everyone asked how the British had managed to produce such a welcome document as the review. It was something that they had failed to do. I think that we should recognise that achievement. I do not think that Opposition Members should be so churlish; I think that they, too, should recognise the value of the review.
The review has been particularly valuable for the people of Wales. Confirmation of the Eurofighter project did not come from the previous Government, or, indeed, from the current Opposition. They were very slow in accepting that confirmation. The news will be welcome in Wales--especially at RAF St. Athan, which provides one of the most professional and expert on-site support services, and off-site aircraft engineering services, not just in this country but in the world. I consider that a real asset.
I welcome the announcement by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State--at column 727 of the Official Report for 31 July 1998--about the future of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency as it relates to RAF St. Athan. Not only are the 4,000 military and civilian jobs on the camp secure for the future; the creation of DARA may well mean an expansion of activity in the area. That is good news not just for the military and for my constituency, but for the whole economy of south Wales.
My hon. Friend the Member for Barrow and Furness (Mr. Hutton) spoke of the value of the defence diversification agency, and the role that it could play, in partnership with private industry, in developing regional economies and a synergy between the private and public sectors. That already takes place at RAF St. Athan. It is a critical asset to the south Wales economy, which already enjoys the synergy provided by the British Airways maintenance plant at Cardiff international airport, the GEC engine plant and the avionics industry. In fact, it plays a critical role in the economy of south Wales.
The review is welcome, and hon. Members should appreciate it. As a Member--
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael J. Martin):
Order. The hon. Gentleman's time is up.
Mr. Andrew Robathan (Blaby):
I agreed with what the hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Mr. Smith) said at the beginning of his speech about the value of service in the armed forces. As for the rest, I must tell the House that I served under both Labour and Conservative Governments when I was in the Army, and, for all sorts of reasons, much preferred serving under a Conservative Government.
Julius Caesar wrote: "A soldier is not as other men, and when he thinks he is, he ceases to be their guardian." Not many people read Julius Caesar nowadays, and, regrettably, not many even know who he was. Sadly, not many people understand what he was talking about. Fifty-three years after the end of the second world war, it is obvious that there is a lack of experience and understanding of the armed forces.
The most worrying fact is that too many people, including some hon. Members, have forgotten the purpose of the armed forces: they are here for our defence. The first duty of government has always been the defence of the realm, and I submit that it remains so. As my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Maples) said yesterday, that includes our vital interests elsewhere.
Twice this century, in the lifetime of one Member of Parliament, and of my own father, who I am glad to say is still alive, this country has been grievously threatened. How are we treating our guardians? In every defence debate, Ministers praise the calibre of our soldiers, sailors and airmen. The Minister for the Armed Forces has just
done so. I agree: I personally believe that they are indeed the best, or among the best, in the world. That usually gets a "Hear, hear". [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."]
Why is new Labour so keen on undermining what it says is so good? This debate gives us the opportunity to review a wide range of defence issues. I could have talked about the very real threats to this country, which are dismissed in the SDR; about the totally incredible aircraft carriers that are so crucial to future naval policy; about when our soldiers are to be brought home from Bosnia; or about the pressure from the Treasury on budgets.
Instead, I shall concentrate on the most important element of our defence. In its recent report on the review, the Select Committee said:
The old-fashioned ethos of service is admired throughout the country. It is built on patriotism, common endeavour, shared experience and camaraderie, and it is often inexplicable to those who have not experienced it. If this country wants its guardians to be effective, it should not try to destroy what works so well.
I am not saying that the armed forces will not or should not change: they have evolved over centuries and will continue so to do. Technological changes are one reason why evolution has been essential. The cavalry now fit remarkably well into tanks and, as air cavalry, into helicopters.
As society has changed, the armed forces must inevitably change, because the personnel do not live in a vacuum but are a part of society; but that does not mean that they should slavishly reflect society, as that is not their purpose and I doubt whether there are many people who would want their soldiers to reflect some of the worst attributes of modern life. People want soldiers, sailors and airmen to defend them.
8.27 pm
"The quality of the people is perhaps the defining characteristic of the UK's armed forces."
The armed forces continue to attract people of very high calibre at all ranks, and parents continue to believe, as do their children, that service in the armed forces is an honourable profession.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |