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Armed Forces Bill

I thank my noble friends Lord Campbell of Alloway and Lord Attlee, the noble and gallant Lords, Lord Boyce and Lord Vincent, and the noble Viscount, Lord Slim, for their support for the amendment. The noble Lord, Lord Thomas, made some important points but I do not agree with him about inter-service rivalry. He said that military justice is coloured by the past and by traditions. Like the noble Lord, I want to see justice improved, but those traditions and the military ethos must not be thrown out without very good reason. I very much agree with the noble Viscount, Lord Slim, about the importance of the military ethos. We must not lose touch with that. The noble Lord, Lord Garden, was happy to see mixed courts martial, but in my discussions with service men and women from all the services and all ranks they argued very strongly for the majority to be drawn from the defendant’s own service, as set out in our amendment. The noble and gallant Lord, Lord Boyce, made the important point that the vast majority of servicemen from different services do not overlap with one another. I thank the Minister for his reply and welcome his recognition of the need for a court martial to be made up of members of the defendant’s own service wherever possible. He said that he would go away and think about the amendment, and perhaps we can have a discussion behind the scenes about how we take this matter forward. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.