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Defence in the World

In that case, I have seven minutes. I share the concerns expressed by Conservative Members about the treatment of the troops and the failure to provide adequate kit for them. I have several contacts in the Territorial Army and a branch is based in my constituency. Considerable concern has been expressed to me about those issues. The wider issue is the policy of the Government and how they approach matters throughout the world. If the Government are to take action without wider acceptance of the justice of their case for doing so, as arguably happened in Iraq, that will cause difficulties. We have seen such difficulties in Iraq. Although the British troops have lots of experience of dealing with difficult situations in Northern Ireland, the actions of the American troops and the anger that they cause have an impact on the British troops and put them in a difficult situation. When we find ourselves, as we do now, with great constraints on resources throughout the world, we end up stretching our troops very thinly and facing difficulties with kit. As a result of the Government’s defence policy, we put the troops in a situation that is unacceptable in many ways. The knock-on effects cause massive difficulties for the United Kingdom in many countries throughout the world. The Government must think about the way in which they address the issues of defence. I refer not just to the detailed issue of the treatment of the troops, but to their policies and whether they receive wider acceptance in the world. They have not done so to date, and that is causing substantial problems in this and other countries. The Government must recognise the need to address that problem. I have come in at the end of this debate and recognise that the winding-up speeches are about to start. However, I conclude by saying that the Government really need to think about what they are doing with their defence policy throughout the world. It has a large number of problems.