Armed Forces Bill

Debate between Judith Cummins and Alex Baker

Committee of the whole House
Tuesday 2nd June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Alex Baker (Aldershot) (Lab)]

On Second Reading, I spoke about the armed forces covenant and the importance of translating our gratitude to those who serve into practical support. Today, I am proud to speak in support of the Government’s housing measures in clause 3 and the associated amendments, which address perhaps the most tangible test of whether we are keeping our side of the bargain with our armed forces community: the homes they live in.

As the Member for Aldershot, the home of the British Army, I represent around 1,800 service family homes—one of the largest concentrations anywhere in the United Kingdom. The success of these reforms will thus be felt directly by thousands of military families in my constituency. For those families, the quality of their accommodation is not an abstract policy issue; it affects family life, children’s wellbeing, retention, morale and operational effectiveness.

For years, too many service families have lived in homes that fall short of the standards that they deserve. I hear from families who face persistent maintenance problems, personnel who are frustrated by repair systems that feel difficult to navigate and parents who simply want a safe, decent home in which to raise their children. I therefore welcome the action that the Government are taking on defence housing. I welcome the £9 billion investment, the refurbishment of nine out of 10 these houses, and the housing officers who will be on the streets of Aldershot as a result of this Government. The creation of a new defence housing service, alongside the wider defence housing strategy, represents a serious and necessary step forward, and the commitment to long-term investment, clearer accountability and better standards will matter enormously to constituencies such as mine.

Welcoming those measures does not mean lowering our ambitions, but rather the opposite. If we are to rebuild trust with service families, the reforms must be felt in everyday life—in repairs completed quickly, damp and mould dealt with properly and a system that listens, responds and follows through. I gently urge Ministers to ensure that the defence housing service has the authority, funding and accountability it needs to succeed, with service families placed at the heart of its design and delivery.

Defence housing is not just about families, however; single living accommodation matters too. For many serving personnel, particularly younger personnel or those living away from their families, single living accommodation is their home. It shapes their daily lives, morale and wellbeing and their sense of whether they are valued by the country they serve. That is why I welcome the Government’s review of single living accommodation and the overseas estate. It is right that we look carefully at the standard of accommodation being provided to those who serve, whether they live with their family or in single accommodation. As the strategic defence review recognised, accommodation is not simply an estates issues, but a retention issue, a recruitment issue and a readiness issue. The test for us now is delivery.

Before I conclude, I want to reflect on a letter I recently received from a constituent who is the father of a serving RAF member. He wrote to me about helping his son move into accommodation at the start of a new posting—his first. As any parent would be, he was proud that his son had chosen to serve his country and proud to see him beginning the next chapter of his career; but when he saw the room that his son had been allocated, that pride turned to concern. The room was small, outdated and in poor condition; there was no heating, and basic facilities were inadequate. His son had to leave behind many of his possessions that made him feel at home, because there simply was not the space. What struck me most was the father’s description, not of the building itself, but of leaving his son behind.

As policymakers, it is easy for us to talk about estates, stock, programmes and investment. Those things matter, but perhaps the best test is a simpler one. When we make decisions about military housing, we should ask ourselves first: if those were our sons or daughters, would we be content to leave them there? Would we feel reassured driving away? Would we believe that they were being treated with the dignity and respect that their service deserved, and would we feel that the nation was keeping its promise to them? If the answers are no, then we must do better.

That is why I welcome the action that this Government are taking and the commitment to improve service family accommodation and review single living accommodation. I hope that Ministers will continue to push forward with urgency and ambition, because those who serve our country deserve decent homes and their families deserve peace of mind. Their service deserves our respect, and our gratitude must be matched by action.

[The First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (Judith Cummins)]

I call the shadow Minister.

Renters’ Rights Bill

Debate between Judith Cummins and Alex Baker

Wednesday 9th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alex Baker (Aldershot) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. For more than 100 years, since the dawn of universal suffrage, the people of Aldershot and Farnborough have sent Conservative MPs to speak for us in this place, so it is with great pride and even greater humility that I rise to give my maiden speech as the first woman and the first Labour Member of Parliament ever elected by my community. I congratulate everyone on both sides of the House who have made their maiden speeches before me.

Let me begin by paying tribute to my predecessor, Leo Docherty, for the seven years of service he gave to my constituency. Mr Docherty served our country in the Scots Guards, as a Member of Parliament and as a Minister of the Crown, and we wish him well for the future. Leo will be remembered as a champion for our armed forces, and I have already learned in my first few weeks as an MP to follow the maxim of the Parachute Regiment, be “ready for anything”, including the moment when I was told just a few weeks ago that a tornado—yes, an actual tornado—was landing in my constituency.

Whatever strong winds are yet to come, I am truly honoured to represent my home and the place where I am raising my family. Today I repeat the pledge I made to my constituents on the night I was elected: “No matter how you voted, or whether you voted for me or for anyone at all in the general election, I will dedicate myself to serving you, our neighbours and every corner of our community, in Aldershot, Farnborough, Blackwater, Hawley and Yateley.”

My politics has been shaped by people and place: my volunteering; community groups; residents’ associations; my church; and my career working with business and communities, from the co-operative movement to the regeneration of Battersea power station, where I helped build not just the bricks and mortar of a new town centre but a vibrant and diverse community, best represented by Battersea power station community choir, which I founded. These experiences taught me that every voice matters and that listening to one another is the first step to getting stuff done. That is the approach I am trying to bring as our new Member of Parliament, and I know from Danielle, Syfun, Katie and many other residents who have already come to me with housing cases how much we need to bring greater fairness to our private rental sector, so I am looking forward to supporting this Bill in the Lobby tonight.

The history of Aldershot and Farnborough is built on service and Great British innovation. We are the home of the British Army and the birthplace of British aviation. Our story began 170 years ago, as our country entered the Crimean war. It was in 1854 that Queen Victoria gave her blessing for the British Army to establish a permanent training camp in a small village on the Hampshire border. The Aldershot garrison town was the first complete military settlement built in the British Isles since the Romans. And Farnborough was transformed too, growing from a small railway town to become the home of the Army ballon factory and the Royal Aircraft Establishment and a hub for military aviation. It was there in 1908 that Samuel Cody piloted the first aeroplane to take flight in Britain. My home continues to deliver cutting-edge technology to this day, with every single Boeing commercial aircraft tested in the Farnborough wind tunnel.

Above all, Aldershot and Farnborough have been defined by the men and women who have served and sacrificed in every major conflict that our country has faced. We will always remember them. Today we are also home to the largest Nepalese community in the UK. The Gurkhas have served our country with outstanding bravery over generations, and I look forward to serving them and advocating for them in this place.

As well as our military heritage, my community has a rich cultural history. We hosted the Olympic games in 1948, when events were held in the Aldershot lido, where I now take my daughters swimming. We were the setting for several Bond films, the place where Charlie Chaplin made his stage debut, and where The Beatles gave their first performance in the south of England. We need to shout loudly and proudly about the great things that have happened and continue to happen in our constituency, and that is something I will always try to do.

There is Farnborough football club, whose women’s team are league champions and cup winners after their first ever season, and Aldershot Town—the Shots—who recently became the first football club to receive the Ministry of Defence gold award for upholding the armed forces covenant. There are great charities such as Step By Step, the Grub Hub, Yateley Industries, our Rotary clubs, the Vine Centre, and many more I could mention. They are all making a tremendous difference. And the world still comes to do business at the Farnborough air show every two years.

But for everything that is right with our community, I know from countless conversations on the doorsteps that many of my neighbours question whether our best days still lie ahead of us. I take that really seriously. I am ambitious for our towns—these communities that have played such a role in our national endeavour—and I believe that if we can bring people together, we can bring new opportunities to our home, breathe new life into our town centres, and realise our incredible potential. I am ready to play my part in that and hope others will join me.

Let me end with a promise, because as I begin my term I have found some inspiration in the work of the Royal Corps of Transport, which was based in Aldershot for many decades. These men and women kept our Army moving across land, air and sea, and their work continues today through the Royal Logistics Corps. They went by the motto “Nothing without labour”, and that serves as a reminder to me that everything we discuss in this Chamber, and everything we hope to achieve for our constituencies, begins and ends with hard work—struggle, toil, effort, doing our best. For as long as I have the privilege of representing my home in this place, I can promise that hard work is the very least that my constituents will get from me, every single day.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call Ayoub Khan to make his maiden speech.