Defence Reform

Paul Flynn Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

It is important, as my hon. Friend says, that all those in key positions remain there to maximise what they learn in the job and that they can therefore give back as much as they can—I will be encouraging the Prime Minister to read Hansard on that point.

[Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)]

The statement is welcome because it recognises the waste and inefficiencies arising from rivalries between the three services, but should the Secretary of State not take the next logical step that the realities of modern warfare demand, which is to aim to create a single, unified service?

[Dr Fox]

No one can deny the intellectual logic behind the hon. Gentleman’s point, but anyone who has spoken to a Canadian Defence Minister in recent years will have got a strong message: “Whatever you try, don’t try that.” There are differences in the approach of the single services, sometimes differences in the ethos of the single services and, clearly, differences in their history too. As we are asking our servicemen and women to do so much for us, the last thing that we want to do is to destroy that important emotional attachment to their heritage.