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Armed Forces Bill

The Secretary of State has made the point that we are not allowed under the sub judice rule to comment on a particular case, although the investigation currently being carried out in respect of General Wall has not yet resulted in charges, so we could comment on that. The Secretary of State must accept—this is not just me speaking but a number of distinguished and gallant Members of another place—that the provision to which he refers takes us on to entirely new ground. For the first time, commanding officers can in principle be charged for errors of omission which would not have been offences under military law.