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Armed Forces Personnel

I am grateful to the Minister, who has a reputation for being very fair-minded. He has demonstrated that once again this afternoon and I have great respect for him. I have one concern with which the Minister might be able to help me. I asked a series of parliamentary questions this week, and one of the answers revealed that not a single representation had been made to the Minister—he is nodding in agreement—and that concerns me. So the Commander, Regional Forces, the ultimate head of the TA, made no representations about the proposed £5 million cuts? Did the assistant Chief of the Defence Staff, the senior two-star TA officer, make no representations about those cuts? Did the Deputy Inspector General TA, a TA brigadier, make no representations about those cuts? If that is the case, I find it very sad. It is a sad state of affairs when lowly Major Lancaster has to stand up in Parliament to argue the case for the Territorial Army. I urge the Minister to look again at the announcements that are being made today, because the long-term impact on the TA will be very severe.