Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Howell Excerpts

Monday 20th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

The armed forces cannot afford a Labour Government if Labour cannot answer one simple question: when?

[Paul Howell (Sedgefield) (Con)]

T3. I and other colleagues, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Richard Drax) and the hon. Member for Newport East (Jessica Morden), would like to follow up on the Minister’s comments to the House in March regarding the tragic sinking of RFA Sir Galahad in the Falklands war? Does the Minister have any update on the release of further files regarding that case?

[The Minister for Defence People and Families (Dr Andrew Murrison)]

Following meetings with colleagues and veterans, having personally reviewed the files at the National Archives, and in the interests of transparency, I am placing copies of two recently reviewed extracts from the 1982 board of inquiry report on the loss of RFA Sir Galahad in the Library of the House. Those extracts are drawn from different sections of the inquiry and have been returned to the National Archives within the main report, which will be publicly available.