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Armed Forces Bill

My Lords, I will speak to Amendment No. 58. We have tabled the amendment again as it concerns an issue that men in the Armed Forces feel strongly about, not least noble and gallant Lords in this House, as well as the Chief of the General Staff and the First Sea Lord, as they made plain in their evidence to the Select Committee in another place. It is very much our view that members of a court martial panel should be drawn from the defendant’s own service. Despite what the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, said, that view is shared by many of the service men and women in all the services to whom we have spoken. I am very grateful to the Minister for his helpful response to the amendment, both in Committee and outside the House, and I have taken his comments on board. I accept that in his position he has to allow for the rare situations where there is a case for mixed panels at court martial. I would very much like to see a presumption for a single service panel, and I would be grateful if the Minister could give an assurance that there will be such a presumption. I also support Amendment No. 59, proposed by my noble friend Lord Attlee.