Remembrance Day: Armed Forces

David Baines Excerpts

Tuesday 11th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[David Baines (St Helens North) (Lab)]

The communities I represent in St Helens North have a long and proud connection with the armed forces, from the St Helens Pals of the first world war, to groups such as Newton-le-Willows sea cadets and local veterans organisations, who do outstanding community work across the borough. Last week, in Parliament’s garden of remembrance, I planted a cross dedicated to Corporal Derek Johnson, who lived in Haydock, and who sadly passed away in June. He served in the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and went on to found the North West Veterans Corps of Drums, which supports the veterans community and takes part in fantastic public performances.

In September, we welcomed the Minister for the Armed Forces to St Helens North to meet local veterans and discuss what more we can do to ensure that all those who have served get the support that they need and deserve. The veterans’ strategy announced yesterday is a hugely positive step towards ensuring that no one who served is left behind, but there is always more that we can do.

My constituent Andy Reid MBE is a triple amputee who was injured by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2009. In the years since, he has done a huge amount of work for wounded veterans, charities and the wider community through his Standing Tall Foundation. He is calling for a new medal to address a significant gap in our honours system. The UK has no formal medal to recognise service personnel wounded in combat. While we rightly honour those who have fallen through the Elizabeth Cross, there is no equivalent recognition for those who carry the physical scars of their service throughout their life. That places us out of step with key allies such as the United States, which has the Purple Heart, and India, which has the Wound medal. I fully support his campaign. I have already raised the matter with Ministry of Defence colleagues, and will be writing to the Cabinet Office to set out the case.

On Sunday, I had the honour of attending remembrance events in Earlestown, Haydock, and St Aidan’s church in Billinge. This morning, I attended a moving service at the Crank and Kings Moss war memorial.

When we attend remembrance events, we remember all those who served, and especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice, but we also think about what they fought for and whether we are living up to the ideals that they defended. Sadly, the last witnesses of the great war have now left us, and those who witnessed the second world war and experienced its causes and consequences are increasingly fewer in number. I think of my grandparents, Gerald and Elsie Howard, and Peter and Joan Baines, who are no longer with us. I think about them all increasingly often. I did not ask them about their experiences when I had the chance—I wish that I had—but I do know the kind of people they were, and what mattered to them. They worked hard all their lives, they loved their families, they valued community and good humour, and they believed that people should look out for one another. I do not think we have changed that much. My grandparents and their generation fought for and earned the right to live in peace, and it seems to me that that is a fight that every generation has to have, in one form or another.

The voices and the experiences of those generations who lived through something similar to what we face now might be increasingly distant, but we must remember them, and we do. It is also important that we learn from them. I firmly believe that the tolerant, firm-minded, community-spirited and outward-looking Britain that my grandparents fought for and loved is still who we are. We can all play our part in defending those values—and we must, particularly those of us in this place—but there should be no doubt that those who are willing to step up and do so in uniform as members of our armed forces deserve the greatest praise. All those in St Helens North who served, and all those who continue to do so, can be assured of not just my thanks, but my support.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

Order. With an immediate three-minute time limit, I call Martin Vickers.

Armed Forces Commissioner Bill

David Baines Excerpts

Consideration of Lords message
Wednesday 2nd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Luke Pollard]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention, and I agree with him. It is precisely for that reason that the Government are insisting on our amendment and not accepting the Opposition amendment made in the other place, because that amendment does not include family members. I agree that including loved ones—family members, for the purposes of the wording of the Bill—within the remit of the Armed Forces Commissioner is an important new step in providing not just members in uniform, but their immediate family members as defined in the secondary legislation that will accompany the Bill, with the opportunity to raise a general service welfare matter.

I agree that there is a lot more we can debate on these matters, and there will be an opportunity to do so during the passage of the next armed forces Bill. However, I say to all Members that I am concerned that going round again on this matter only holds up delivery of a key element that will be used to tackle the very issues this amendment seeks to address. Namely, it holds up the establishment of an Armed Forces Commissioner, which was a key manifesto commitment for defence. The longer this Bill is prevented from becoming law, the greater the disservice we do to our armed forces and their families. I sincerely hope that today we can send a united message from this House that we do not wish to delay this vital legislation any further.

[David Baines (St Helens North) (Lab)]

Like everyone else in this House, I am incredibly proud of our armed forces, and particularly of our relationship with them in St Helens. Just yesterday, the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment paraded through St Helens town centre after being awarded the freedom of the borough—we are so incredibly proud. Does the Minister agree that we just need to get on with this now, so that we can show a united front and speak with one voice in support of our armed forces, and give them the support they need?

[Luke Pollard]

I thank my hon. Friend for placing on the record the military events in his constituency. It is so important that we recognise the links and ties that so many of our military units have with the localities from which they recruit, where they are based and where they serve. I agree with his broader point; the time is right for us to pass this Bill, get it into law, and allow us to move to a situation in which we have an Armed Forces Commissioner able to deal with the issues raised by our people and their family members.

The Government took on board the important debates in both Houses and proposed amendment 2A, to which this House previously agreed. That amendment honoured the spirit of the noble Baroness’s amendments in the other place and actually went further than her proposals, delivering concrete legal protections that were not included in the amendments that are back before us today. We are seeking to reinsert that better amendment, which was made early in the process and in good faith, following discussions and co-operation with the Opposition in the other place. Given the strong cross-party support for the Bill and clear arguments in favour of the amendment in lieu, we had been hoping that that would enable us to conclude proceedings. The Government amendment will establish genuine protection for people wishing to raise a concern anonymously, and will build trust and confidence among our armed forces and their families in a way we cannot envisage will be achieved by the proposed amendments that are before us today.