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Territorial Army Rebalancing

I respect the hon. Gentleman, but his last comment was silly. We are dealing with serious matters. I think that this is the first statement that I have made on the Territorial Army in which I have not announced a cut. There are no cuts—the size of the TA remains the same. We are trying to grow numbers. I accept that the TA is under strength, as is the Regular Army. It has ever been thus—certainly, it has been the case for many decades. By rebalancing numbers and trying to integrate the TA with our regular forces we will give people who serve in the TA a new future and improve recruitment. The hon. Gentleman made a point about the setting up of the military provost staff company to deal with detainees. This is an issue, no matter where we are. If we go into a hostile environment we must have a legal construct for the way in which we deal with the individuals whom we apprehend. Clearly, that will be the case in Afghanistan. It is the case in Iraq, as it is in Sierra Leone, the Balkans and elsewhere. There are different memorandums of understanding and host country arrangements, and we need people who are well trained and capable of living within that legal construct and who understand it well. It is an area to which we must attend, hence the reason for the proposal. Those staff will be trained to our standards, which are exceptionally high.