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Armed Forces Bill

The Minister has generously answered my point as far as it goes. I am grateful for his indication that it is at the heart of the debate because the crux of the matter is that in operational circumstances such as those which prevailed for the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, the case of Trooper Williams, until it was satisfactorily dealt with—by the CO in that case—seriously worried the rest of the regiment and caused operational ineffectiveness. If the powers to deal with such things during high-tempo operations were stripped away from COs, it could interfere with the operational effectiveness of units at that level.