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Defence in the UK

If my hon. Friend will permit me, I want to make some progress. The Minister talked about January’s surplus and deficit figures for trained strength and manpower requirements. I can help him by giving him some news. He mentioned a 5,000 deficit in January, but I can give him the figures for March, which show that the deficit has increased to 6,240. The Navy is 1,780 below strength, the Army is 2,500 below strength and the RAF is 1,900 below strength, so the position is somewhat worse than he said. I am giving those figures for a specific reason, however, as I want to hear the Minister’s view about the problems that may affect numbers in the future, especially in relation to South African and foreign and Commonwealth personnel. The right hon. Gentleman will be aware that when the South African President signs a Bill into law, more than 900 service personnel—mostly in the Army, which is already 2,500 under strength—will be unable to serve. They make a huge contribution to our special forces, but the control the South African Government would assert will be incompatible with the soldiers’ oath of allegiance to the Queen. The Government have been investigating the matter for some time. Will they tell us what they intend to do? We cannot simply stand by and watch the strength of the Army drop by another 900. What impact will the decision about South African personnel have on other Commonwealth personnel? Will a precedent be set? What effect might it have on numbers? That is one of the most important points that the Minister needs to address. Things are happening quickly and they will have a major impact, so we need to know exactly what the Government’s plans are.