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Armed Forces Bill

moved Amendment No. 206: Page 190, leave out line 19. The noble Earl said: In moving Amendment No. 206, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 207. When I first read the Bill, I was unaware that it had already been amended in another place to provide for the annual continuation order that we enjoy with the current service discipline Acts. When I read Clause 374, I found it difficult to understand. I thought that it said one thing when actually it said something else. I believe that the transitional arrangements should be in the back of the Bill where they belong. In my amendment, I have separated the transitional arrangements from the ongoing ones. I believe that the ongoing provisions—the requirement for the annual continuation order, as described in Amendment No. 207—should be in Clause 1, or Section 1 when the Bill is passed. I was advised not to table an amendment drafted ““Before Clause 1””, but that was my intention. I have two reasons for believing that the continuation order should be in Section 1. The first is to remind our Armed Forces that they are under full parliamentary and political control. Nearly all officers understand that, but I have found one or two who need a little prompting. The second reason is that we are rightly engaged in defence diplomacy; we are proud that our Armed Forces are under parliamentary and political control. I think that it would be useful for our people when engaged on defence diplomacy to be able to point to a Section 1 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 that clearly states that our Armed Forces are under full parliamentary and political control. I beg to move.