Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Historical Inequalities Report

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Wallace]

Yes. The House should be under no illusion: the commission is absolutely determined to see this matter through. There are Members of this House on the commission and they are determined to talk and work together, and we will continue to do that. The weight of the Department will be behind them in achieving their goals.

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

I join Members across the House in paying tribute to the tireless campaigning work of my right hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy) that has brought us to this important watershed moment in our nation’s history. I welcome the Special Committee’s report, which makes for sobering reading in laying bare the historical injustice that meant that tens of thousands of Commonwealth military personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives for this country in world war one, have been commemorated unequally or not at all. In seeking to right this historic wrong, the Committee’s report recommends an

“ongoing commitment to continue the search for the unnamed war dead and those potentially not commemorated”.

Can the Secretary of State please outline what resources will be made available to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to make that a reality, to ensure that all our gracious war dead are commemorated equally and that future generations are able to remember them?

Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Wednesday 14th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

One really positive advance that we have made this century has been our recognition of the obligations that the state and wider society have to the members of our armed forces for the work that they do for us and the sacrifices that they make. It was the Labour Government who first acknowledged the necessity of an armed forces covenant, although the Conservatives chose not to bring it into law.

Warrington North is the proud home of the 75 Engineer Regiment, based at the Peninsula barracks in Orford, as well as two historic RAF bases at RAF Burtonwood and RAF Padgate, a hugely important part of our town’s heritage and our nation’s success in defeating fascist tyranny in world war two. This morning I was pleased to meet with the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association for the north-west of England to discuss how I can sign the covenant as an armed forces-friendly employer myself. We should all do what we can to support the military that defends us and our armed forces communities.

However, the Government plan yet another real-terms forces pay cut: a lance-corporal in the Army will see a cut of £445 and a sergeant in the RAF will lose £610. And, unfortunately, while we have seen this progress in society, the Conservative Government have undermined our military capability, marching us back over 300 years in terms of the size of the Army and now proposing still further cuts. Despite assurances that decisions should be driven by threat analysis rather than budgets, this is the third time that the Tory Government have chosen to reduce our capability, breaking the Prime Minister’s election promise that he would not be

“cutting our armed services in any form.”

For him, apparently, a cut to the Army of 10,000 does not count—a worse use of 10,000 men, and indeed women, than the grand old Duke of York.

Ministers say that money is better spent on new technologies. Shiny new tech may be exciting, but leaving aside their repeated failures to deliver over the past decade and to have a procurement policy for defence spending that supports British jobs, tech cannot counter all challenges. In addition to the military threats that we have heard discussed today, in recent years we have needed our armed forces and their expertise as we have coped with increasing floods caused by climate change, and, yes, the covid pandemic as well. Are these strategic threats that Ministers think are either less likely in future or can be addressed with new kit? The first duty of Government is keeping their citizens safe, and reducing our capabilities by this level does the exact opposite.