Defence Supplementary Estimate 2021-22

Mark Tami Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Marcus Fysh (Yeovil) (Con)]

As we have heard time and again today, we need to spend more on defence. This really could not be a graver time for the world. I do not think any of us in the House imagined that we would be in such a position, discussing this issue in these circumstances. Sadly, I think our armed forces are going to have a lot more to do over the coming years so we need to make sure that we fund and equip them appropriately. As a House we need properly and diligently to shoulder that massive responsibility.

One thing on which people have not yet focused very much but which I fear will be very much the focus of discussion in the coming years is just how difficult an economic situation the world is going to be in. Because of the sanctions and everything that has been going on in respect of our not wanting to engage with Russia and its exports of energy, materials and agricultural products, there is going to be massive food-price inflation throughout the world and in some of the world’s poorest areas, including the middle east, central Asia and north Africa. I am afraid that will almost certainly cause grave circumstances for the people who live in those areas, meaning we will be called on to help in all sorts of different ways, including from a humanitarian point of view and from a climate point of view. There will undoubtedly be lots of disputes and arguments about such matters over the coming years. We need to be clear-eyed about the economic damage that is going to be done to the world and to our economy because of this situation. As a result, we need to look at absolute numbers in respect of what we need to invest in defence to achieve the things we want to achieve: we must not be hung up on a particular percentage-of-GDP target, because that is going to be a moving feast and I think we will, unfortunately, be in a fairly major recession before too long.

I wish to focus on one procurement issue that, in the context I have set out, we need to accelerate: the procurement of the medium-lift helicopter requirement that was identified in the defence review. It has been put out to competition, but the context has changed—we are not in Kansas anymore—and we need to accelerate the procurement process and demonstrate to the world how the UK can procure in a more agile and nimble way than it has done in the past. In particular, if we want to get the helicopters into service by 2024, and given the various stresses on global supply chains, it makes sense to get a decision as soon as possible.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

May I quickly make the point that competition is still important, because experience has shown us that, when there been no competition, we have ended up with poor procurement?

UK Armed Forces: Wales’s Contribution

Mark Tami Excerpts

Tuesday 25th February 2020 Westminster Hall

[Fay Jones]

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. We need to make sure that we remember our war dead in every way possible.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

The hon. Lady has mentioned the F-35. The work on that aircraft is based in Alyn and Deeside, which I obviously welcome; it is vital that we have it. However, over the years, there has been a lot of uncertainty regarding that site because of the chopping and changing that has happened, with the MOD changing how contracts are placed and moving work forward or back. We need longer-term planning if we are to maintain that important strategic work.

[Fay Jones]

I agree with the right hon. Gentleman, and I will be moving on to a related point in a few minutes.

Although investment in the regional defence industry is increasing, proportionately Wales continues to contribute more personnel to the UK armed forces than any other nation in the Union. Consequently, we have a high number of veterans in Wales. The Government have made huge progress in this area, including through the creation of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs. However, when it comes to mental health, we can do more to ensure that returning servicemen and servicewomen can access the care they need. I am grateful that the veterans Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Johnny Mercer), has agreed to meet me to discuss this issue shortly.

Draft Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Mark Tami Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2019 General Committees

[Wayne David]

It is important at this stage in the process that we do not engage in such cheap debating points. We need to look at the nature of our economy and the impact that a no-deal Brexit would have. This is too important for simple political digs or empty rhetoric. We need cool heads and a sharp analysis of what is before us. That is what I am seeking to do, and I hope, in the national interest, that the Government will do so too. We are getting perilously close to the point of no return. We have 46 days. We must take a deep breath, stand back and put the interests of our country and our constituents first.

Why have the Government adopted this approach? The impact assessment says that there are no policy changes, and therefore they do not require a detailed business impact assessment. However, I suggest that it is a policy change because it cuts across what we have been doing and saying for many years in this country. There should therefore be a fully-fledged business assessment so that we can understand the economic consequences of what we are doing. Incredibly, that is lacking. I come back to the point that I made at the start. If we had any sense, and if we were seriously considering a no-deal Brexit, this issue should have been considered in detail months ago—indeed, two years ago. Europe is a vital export market for us, and this will have a big impact.

The Government talk a great deal about competition, but it is worth bearing in mind that 40% of the Ministry of Defence budget is single-sourced. There is no competition; the MOD simply gives the money to a particular company or amalgam of companies. It is therefore important that we question the Government’s commitment to competition.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

I was thinking of the airborne warning and control system, for which there did not appear to be any procurement policy. We just opted for the American option, rather than something that would have benefited employment in this country.

[Wayne David]

That is a very good and important example. There was at least one other strong alternative to the Boeing bid for AWACS, but the Government decided not to consider it at all. There was no publicity, openness or transparency; they just came to a cosy little arrangement with an American company, and effectively bought the equipment off the shelf from the United States, with minimal investment in the British economy.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Tami]

Does the Minister accept that the American alternative is not currently being sold? They will have to restart the production lines to produce our order.

[Stuart Andrew]

Those planes are ready at the moment. Some of them are ready for us at the moment. They are on the production line. That will not be an issue at all. As I said, we are still going through a lot of the assessments, but the point is that the Airbus alternative has not even been proven. This is a capability that we need. I agree completely with the hon. Member for Glenrothes that we need to give our armed forces equipment that they can rely on and depend on. This is a classic example of why we have do that.

RAF Centenary

Mark Tami Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

Before I begin what I intend to make a very positive and constructive contribution to this debate, I must put on record my concern and that of other hon. Members about the disgracefully short notice for this debate. It is not as though we have not known for some time that 2018 was the centenary of the RAF—100 years in fact—but to give only one parliamentary day’s notice was very discourteous to Members. I hope that the Government will do better in future.

It is a real pleasure to open this debate for the Opposition and to celebrate 100 years of our Royal Air Force. I will try not to repeat too many of the Secretary of State’s remarks, but we in the Opposition are in a lot of agreement with him on this topic. In those 100 years, the brave, dedicated men and women of our Royal Air Force have worked tirelessly and made sacrifices—in some cases, the ultimate sacrifice—to keep us safe and to protect our freedom.

Although we are marking 100 years since the creation of the Royal Air Force, it did not come from nowhere. I would like to take a few minutes to look at what was happening before 1918. During the past four years, as we have reflected on the events of the first world war, the dominant image for most people has been that of the trenches on the western front—not least because so many families in all our communities have been able to trace family members who served in the Army on the western front. There has been some mention of the war at sea. In the Parc Howard Museum in Llanelli, we have an exhibition on the war at sea. We have talked about the blockade of Germany and the relentless attacks on ships bringing supplies to Britain. Indeed, we had a parliamentary debate on the battle of Jutland.

Many people are much less aware of the use of air power during the first world war. They tend to associate it much more with the second world war and, of course, with the outstanding performance of the Royal Air Force in the battle of Britain. However, the use of air power in combat goes back longer than one might think. Indeed, the use of a tethered air balloon for reconnaissance—to get a better view of what was happening on the ground—dates right back to the American civil war in the 1860s. Already during world war one, aircraft were used in many ways that we would recognise today—for reconnaissance, air combat, home defence, anti-submarine warfare and bombing—and they even took off from an aircraft carrier, with HMS Furious being the first aircraft carrier. The war also saw the further development of the use of wireless communication, aerial photography, tactics and organisation.

As the hon. Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) has mentioned, aircraft were flown by the intrepid members of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. They dealt with all the hazards of a relatively new and untried technology and the vagaries of weather, even before encountering the dangers of a mission. By the end of the war, that resulted in a combined total of some 9,300 killed or missing and some 7,000 wounded from the RFC, the RNAS and, subsequently, the RAF. We acknowledge their bravery and sacrifice.

This year, as has been mentioned, we have indeed enjoyed some spectacular events as part of the RAF100 celebrations, which have really commemorated, celebrated and inspired. I would like to put on record my sincere thanks to all those who have been involved in their preparation and execution. Up and down the country, the public have really appreciated the events, and a huge effort has been made to ensure that they have been truly open to the public. In one event in Cardiff, we had the flypast of a Lancaster bomber. We also had a fabulous display, in which the public could participate, with the opportunity to speak and ask questions about what they saw. Here in Parliament, we all enjoyed the RAF100 flypast, with the amazing participation of 100 aircraft.

The national Armed Forces Day event was held this year in Llandudno, where, being in Wales, we were of course blessed with perfect weather. The RAF pilots put on a spectacular air display, including by drawing a heart shape and of course the number 100 with their smoke trails.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

Is it appropriate also to remember all those men and women who actually produced those aircraft? I am particularly thinking of the women at Broughton, who still hold the world record for building a Wellington bomber in 24 hours.

[Nia Griffith]

Indeed. My right hon. Friend makes a very good point. The contribution during the second world war of women in the construction of aircraft, with the skills they obviously had and developed, was absolutely magnificent, and I think very much overlooked. As he says, they actually broke the record with the most amazing construction work at Broughton.

I visited Broughton during the RAF100 celebrations. I was at Raytheon in Broughton on the 38th day of the RAF100 baton relay. The baton had been carried up Snowdon the previous day and it was on its way to the Defence Electronics and Components Agency at Sealand. I was very pleased to be there because north Wales has such strong links with the RAF. It was of course a north Walian Prime Minister, Lloyd George, who established the RAF. It was through his initiative and determination to secure victory in world war one that the RAF, the world’s first independent air force, was created on 1 April 1918.

Ministry of Defence

Mark Tami Excerpts

Monday 26th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Moon]

My hon. Friend is right, and this is also making them so much easier to be bought off by companies who seek the expertise and qualifications they achieve in the military. They feel dissatisfaction when they see the forces they joined—particularly the Army—being hollowed out. That is leading many more to consider leaving.

I shall make one final comment. I have spoken to a young man who was working as a full-time reservist when I first met him. He has told me that a lot of his time as a full-time reservist was spent going out and trying to recruit. He said that one of the most frightening things was that so many of the youngsters he spoke to about joining the armed forces had no understanding of military life. They had no idea of what NATO stood for, for example. This is a wider problem that we as a country need to tackle. We need to get the message out about how invaluable our armed forces are and how critical it is that our young people should seek the life, the experience, the skills, the challenge and the satisfaction of a military career, whether as a reservist or full time.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that we still need to do a lot more for people leaving the service? There are still too many ex-military personnel finding civilian life very difficult. Does she agree that we need to support them as they adapt?

[Mrs Moon]

I agree with my hon. Friend; it is difficult for people who have been in an all-encompassing environment to transition. I know many ex-MPs who have found it very difficult to transition out of this place, because it is not just a job; it is our whole life and requires great commitment. That is what the military is like as well, and that transition is grave.

I shall take no more interventions, but before I finally sit down, I want to make the point that life in the military does not mean that someone will get post-traumatic stress disorder. It worries me that that possibility seems to have got into the public consciousness. Life in the military will offer someone a chance to grow, to mature and to become an asset to their country, and I just wish that more people understood that, rather than thinking about the downsides of joining our military.

Trident Renewal

Mark Tami Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Dr Lewis]

It does indeed. I cannot think of an existing nuclear power that has done more than the United Kingdom to slim down and reduce the firepower of its independent nuclear deterrent. The response, as has been repeatedly pointed out by Government Members and by some Opposition Members, to those unilateral reductions on our part has been absolutely zero. There is not the slightest shred of evidence that if we were to abandon our nuclear deterrent completely any other country would follow suit. All that would happen would be that those near-misses, which have been discussed so eloquently today—the risks of nuclear Armageddon by accident—would continue between the superpowers if they are tangible risks, but we would add another risk: the risk that someone hostile to us with a nuclear armament could blackmail us into concessions, surrender or absolute annihilation. The risk of the deliberate firing of nuclear weapons against us is something that we would be crazy to accept voluntarily and unnecessarily.

Returning to the reluctance of democracies to launch nuclear weapons against countries that do not have them—although we use them, as I have said, continuously as deterrents—we should consider the alternative. If a dictatorship such as that in Argentina had had an arsenal of even a few small atomic weapons and the means to deliver them, no matter how many conventional forces we had had, we would not have dared to retake the Falkland Islands, because we must not project on to other countries that do not share our political principles and freedoms the sense of self-restraint that we apply to ourselves.

The third argument that I always outline is that the United Kingdom has traditionally played a more important and decisive role in preserving freedom than other medium-sized democracies have been able or willing to do. Democratic countries that do not have a nuclear deterrent have little choice but to declare themselves neutral and hope for the best or to rely on the nuclear umbrella of more powerful allies. The United Kingdom, for historical reasons, is a nuclear power, and it is much harder to defeat it than many other democracies by conventional means because of our physical separation from the continent.

The next argument is that our prominence as the principal ally of the United States, our strategic geographical position, to which I have just referred, and the fact that we are the junior partner might tempt an aggressor to risk attacking us separately. Given the difficulties of overrunning the UK with conventional forces, compared with our more vulnerable allies, an aggressor might be tempted to use one or more mass-destruction weapons against us on the assumption that the United States would not respond on our behalf. Even if that assumption were false, the attacker would find out his mistake only when it was too late for all concerned. An independently controlled British nuclear deterrent massively reduces the prospect of such a fatal miscalculation.

The fifth military argument, which was mentioned earlier, is that no amount of conventional force can compensate for the military disadvantage that faces a non-nuclear country in a conflict against a nuclear-armed enemy. The atomic bombing of Japan is especially instructive not only because the emperor was forced to surrender but because of what might have happened in the reverse scenario. If Japan had developed atomic bombs in the summer of 1945 and the allies had not, a conventional allied invasion to end the war would have been out of the question.

I tend to find that people wish to try to sweep aside the patent logic of nuclear deterrence by projecting on to historical figures events that did not happen and could never possibly be tested. The hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr MacNeil), who has now left his place, asserted that Hitler would not have been constrained by a nuclear deterrent held by the allies if he had had nuclear weapons. In 1943, Hitler proposed to use the nerve gas, tabun, which was far, far more deadly than the gases that the allies then possessed. When he consulted his chief scientists, they said that it was most unlikely that the allies had not discovered tabun too, and he therefore decided not to employ it, even though it would have had a devastating effect. That is an example of even Hitler being deterred by the mistaken belief that his enemies had a weapon when in fact they did not.

The hon. Member for Moray made his points with clarity and calmness, as always. He said that he did not think that deterrence had worked. Of course, when something does not happen—that is, world war three—it is difficult to show that it would have happened if one had done something different. However, I always apply the test of the proxy war. The right hon. Member for Lewisham, Deptford (Dame Joan Ruddock) observed that throughout the cold war period many proxy wars went on around the globe. In fact, that is an argument in favour of the case that nuclear deterrence had something to do with the fact that the superpowers did not fight each other in Europe. If no other conflicts had been going on among proxies of the superpowers, one could have argued that they would not be likely to have been at each others’ throats if they did not have a nuclear deterrent. The fact that they were fighting each other by every means possible other than open war—state to state—on the European continent strongly suggests that the possession of the nuclear deterrent, and the balance of terror, had something to do with that stability.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman will no doubt agree that in the preceding period, which is the only thing we can base our evidence on, there was a whole series of European wars with the major powers fighting each other.

[Dr Lewis]

Exactly. That leads us back to the heart of what the concept of deterrence requires in order to work. Deterrence means that a potential aggressor must not only face a degree of retaliation that is unacceptable if inflicted, but be convinced that that retaliation is unavoidable.

The key point about nuclear deterrence was made in a 1945 study by the leading defence scientist when nuclear weapons were first being considered as a concept. I love quoting the example—I have done so on previous occasions—given by Professor Sir Henry Tizard, who was one of the chief scientific advisers to the wartime Government, when he first considered what the atomic bomb would mean if it worked. He said that he could see no way of preventing an atomic bomb from being used except by the fear of retaliation, and he illustrated that by saying:

“A knowledge that we were prepared, in the last resort”—

our deterrent has always been the final resort, if the future existence of the nation is at stake—

“might well deter an aggressive nation. Duelling was a recognised method of settling quarrels between men of high social standing so long as the duellists stood twenty paces apart and fired at each other with pistols of a primitive type. If the rule had been that they should stand a yard apart with pistols at each other’s hearts, we doubt whether it would long have remained a recognised method of settling affairs of honour.”

The hon. Member for Moray referred to a number of things that I will touch on briefly. He talked about our obligations under article VI of the non-proliferation treaty, which states:

“Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”

The only thing that is time-limited in that commitment is the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date. We are not engaged in a nuclear arms race with anyone. We never have been and we have successively, as I said earlier, been reducing our capacity with little or no response from the other nuclear powers.

The other two, open-ended commitments are to achieve nuclear disarmament and to achieve general and complete disarmament. The article wisely recognises the link between the two, because one thing we do not wish to do by removing the balance of terror and by achieving even multilateral nuclear disarmament is to make the world safe again for conventional conflict between the major powers.

Armed Forces (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill

Mark Tami Excerpts

Friday 1st February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Francois]

The hon. Gentleman nods in assent.

I recognise what the hon. Gentleman is trying to do, and I have no difficulty in principle with the signal he wants Parliament to send—that offences motivated by hostility to the armed forces are serious offences—but I have considerable practical difficulty with how he proposes to send that signal. In effect, I believe that the law of unintended consequences would apply, and I will explain why in a moment.

As a general rule, before we go down the route of new legislation, we must consider whether there is a need for it. The answer in this case is, on balance, no. The courts already have a wide power in sentencing to take into account factors that make conduct more serious. Criminal acts based on an irrational hostility to a person because he or she is in the armed forces will, if anything, often lead to a higher sentence anyway.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

Does the Minister not accept that we need to send a clear message to people that such acts will be treated very severely?

[Mr Francois]

As I said, I can understand the signal that the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife is trying to send, but if we are talking about changing the law of the land, we need to look at the practical effect, including on the courts. I am trying to walk the House through what might be the practical effect in the courtroom. If the hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside (Mark Tami) will bear with me, I shall attempt to develop that point.

I am aware of no evidence of courts finding that they have insufficient powers to give an appropriate sentence to an offender in this regard. I am not aware that we have received representations from the courts asking us to amend the law in this way.

In contrast, converting the flexibility that the courts currently exercise into a mandatory requirement—which is what the Bill says—would present them with practical difficulties. For example, in demonstrating to a court that the aggravating factor was present and should apply, the prosecution would need to show that the hostility was present. Perhaps that would be relatively straightforward in the case of a soldier in uniform, but the Bill as drafted extends the same protection to those not in uniform, which might be more difficult to prove. As we have seen, this provision also includes the families of service personnel and our veteran community—all 4.6 million of them, or about one in 10 of the adult population of this country.

Under the Bill as drafted, the court would presumably have to decide whether the offender was aware of that fact and whether it motivated the effect. The court might need to establish whether a victim was a relative—“any relative”—of a member of the armed forces. How are the courts to deal with a situation where an offence is motivated by excessive rivalry between different sections of the armed forces or, perhaps, a domestic dispute? A mandatory requirement for a higher sentence reduces the courts’ ability to take a sensible, common-sense approach to what is really going on in the circumstances they are examining.

Defence Equipment and Support

Mark Tami Excerpts

Tuesday 17th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Nick Harvey]

Decisions on whether any of the procurements that we made under the UOR process should be brought into the core defence programme will have to be taken individually in respect of each procurement. Some will be brought into the core programme, and at that point a full analysis of through-life costs will have to be made. Others, despite having performed well in theatre, will not be brought into the long-term defence programme. The type of scrutiny that my hon. Friend seeks will take place at that point.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

How will this decision, or lack of decision, affect existing contracts such as that for the A400M, on which many UK aerospace jobs rely?

[Nick Harvey]

It will have no impact on existing contracts. It is the means by which we will secure better value for money in forming future contracts.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Tami Excerpts

Monday 26th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Nick Harvey]

I entirely repudiate what the hon. Gentleman is saying. Army units deploying to Afghanistan go through a bespoke 18-month training progression prior to deployment, which is tailored to the role they will fulfil in theatre and creates a very high level of individual and collective competence. From talking to them out there, I know they will believe that they have had the training they need, and that is also the assessment of the military professionals.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Philip Hammond)]

My departmental responsibilities are to ensure: that our country is properly defended, now and in the future, through the delivery of the military tasks for which the MOD is mandated; that our service personnel have the right equipment and training to allow them to succeed in those military tasks; and that we honour our armed forces covenant. In order to discharge those duties, I have a clear responsibility to ensure that the Department has a properly balanced budget, and a force generation strategy and defence equipment programme that are affordable and sustainable in the medium to long term.

[Mark Tami]

The Defence Secretary announced today that the life of the Vanguard-class submarines will be extended to 2030. That was missing from his earlier written statement. Why has he tried to sneak this announcement out without debate?

[Mr Hammond]

I am sorry but the hon. Gentleman is displaying a deep misunderstanding of what has happened today. We have announced today the signing of the contract for the long period overhaul of the last of the four Vanguard-class submarines, HMS Vengeance. HMS Vigilant will sail tomorrow, having completed her refit. This will extend the life of the Vanguard-class submarines into the 2030s, which will allow the nuclear successor submarine to be introduced in the late 2020s while maintaining the UK’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent.

Armed Forces Personnel

Mark Tami Excerpts

Thursday 10th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her intervention, and I share her thoughts about that medal. I know from previous experience that the very subject of medals can be controversial, but in this case I absolutely share the sentiments that she has expressed.

As I prepare, for the first time since leaving the Army earlier this year, to mark Remembrance day in my Barnsley constituency tomorrow, I am reminded of Sergeant Andy McFarlane from the Adjutant General’s Corps, who wrote a poem while serving in Afghanistan in 2008. It begins:

“The news is spread far and wide

Another comrade has sadly died

A sunset vigil upon the sand

As a soldier leaves this foreign land”.

“Bravery” is a word that is all too often used, but rarely earned. Those words speak of our bravest men and women, who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country—not in pursuit of personal gain or individual glory; not without knowing the risks; not while surrounded by the comforts of home; but in a foreign land where danger and uncertainty are, in fact, the only certainty.

For me, this weekend—and this debate—is simple. It is about the families at home, with their loved ones serving overseas. It is about veterans who live on, carrying the scars, mental or physical. Most of all, it is about the fallen. For two minutes tomorrow Britain will stand united, shoulder to shoulder in remembrance. Tomorrow, I will be remembering all who have served our country, but in particular I will be remembering my own regiment, the Parachute Regiment. Among others, I will also be remembering the soldiers of the Yorkshire Regiment and the soldiers of the Light Dragoons.

I will be remembering the late Corporal Bryan Budd VC of the Parachute Regiment, and his family. I will be remembering the late Corporal Mark Wright GC of the Parachute Regiment, and his family. I will be remembering the late Barnsley-born Captain Martin Driver of the Royal Anglian Regiment, and his family. I will be remembering the late Major Matt Bacon of the Intelligence Corps, and his family. I will also be remembering the late Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe of the Welsh Guards, the highest-ranked fatality in Afghanistan, and his wife, Sally, who joined me and other colleagues in Parliament earlier this week. Tomorrow, I will also be remembering in particular the soldier from 4th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment who was killed in Afghanistan only yesterday. I am sure that I speak for right hon. and hon. Members across the House when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this most difficult time.

Every life is equally precious and should be equally remembered. For those of us who have had the great honour to serve, despite leading very busy lives, every day brings quiet moments of reflection and remembrance. For me, they happen in this place every single day as I am walking down the long Westminster corridors, in the lift on the way over to the Chamber, or sitting behind my desk late each evening. For us, it is not just about the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Every day, I find myself pausing to remember friends with whom I served, who never made it back to their loved ones. Every day, I find myself thinking about my own children, and about what might have been, had I not enjoyed the luck that I did. Every day, I am very grateful, and every day, I remember the families who will always be missing a mother or father, a husband or wife, a son or daughter.

I knew 10 of the first 100 men and women killed while serving in Iraq. At that point, I stopped counting. I felt that I had to. Despite what many believe about the wars and their implications for global security, for international legitimacy and for the nature of UK-American relations, no one should doubt that those who have fallen were among our very best and our very bravest. They are at the heart of all that is still great about Britain today.

I believe, however, that we must strive to do better as politicians in shaping the debate about defence, to ensure that the forces community receives the support that it needs and deserves.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is moving on to the point that we need to do more for those who have not adjusted as well as he has after coming out of the Army. I have seen many people not only with physical injuries but with the kind of mental scars that often do not appear until many years later.

[Dan Jarvis]

My hon. Friend makes a useful point, which has already been highlighted by other Members in the debate. The reality is that those people who have served in the most difficult circumstances in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere often do not present symptoms from those experiences until many years after the conflict has finished. It is therefore incredibly important that we, as a society, as politicians and as a Government, keep a close eye on those people.

We must remember the last 10 years in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, contentious though they have no doubt been. Support from the Government, in Parliament and across the UK for our veterans and their families must always be unequivocal. We must remember the value of charities such as the Royal British Legion, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, Help for Heroes and many others, all of whom contribute so much. For more than 90 years, the Royal British Legion has been a constant, a continuing pillar of strength for those who have served and for their families. I believe that its call, which was shared by many others, to leave the chief coroner out of the Public Bodies Bill was the right thing to do for our armed forces and their families. We should have listened to the legion when it made that important point.

We must also remember that, when the shots stop firing and the last bomb has detonated, our support for our forces must be absolute and unending. When Afghanistan and Iraq are consigned to the history books, our armed forces’ physical injuries and mental recollections of those wars will live on for ever.

Our veterans deserve not adequate, not better, but the best support. On Friday, a veteran and his wife, Mark and Helen Mullins, were found dead, having killed themselves in despair. We must not forget those who served but now struggle, those who fought but now feel forgotten, those who stood-to but now stand alone. We, on all sides of this House, have a duty to protect our armed forces and to ensure that public support for them endures.

I quoted earlier from Sergeant McFarlane’s poem, which concludes:

“Reveille sounds and the parade is done

The hero remembered, forgotten by none

They leave to start the journey back

In a coffin draped in the Union Jack”.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the fallen. We must not forget and we must always remember. I know that I am enormously proud to have been in our armed forces for 15 years. I know that this House is enormously proud of our armed forces. I know, too, that this weekend, our country will demonstrate our pride in the best armed forces in the world.