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Armed Forces

My Lords, I cannot answer the noble Lord specifically. It is a fact that a number of battalions are under strength and that without the Territorial Army they would be in very serious trouble. The RAF strategic transport fleet needs replacement, and there is a shortage of helicopters. It is hard to envisage any operations in the future when there will not be significant demands on the helicopter fleets of the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and the Army. Most importantly, the three fighting services are about people. They are a priceless asset. If they do not feel valued, if they do not feel that their families are getting a fair deal or that they are being properly looked after, if they do not feel that they are being adequately trained and equipped and if they feel that Her Majesty’s Government do not really care, morale will suffer. The noble Baroness, Lady Park, mentioned that. It is particularly so when the forces are heavily committed on operations. I am not saying that morale is bad. I have been to Afghanistan, and when you go round you see that morale is high, but morale can go very quickly, and they need to feel that the Government are really behind them. If morale does go, it takes a lot of money and time to restore it. In conclusion, I will say something about the important relationship between the Armed Forces, the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister. That relationship is more important than they might realise. As many noble Lords have mentioned, the fact that at this time the Secretary of State has a second job is extraordinary. He is known to some in the military as ““Two jobs Des””. It is a very bad message to send to the Armed Forces. The relationship is hugely important and should not be underestimated. Where there is trust, that relationship works really well. It is interesting to talk about trust, given the Prime Minister’s writing about heroes. These are the very people that we are talking about. Trust is a powerful asset. When it runs deep, it strengthens any relationship. When there is no trust or, even worse, when trust is broken, co-operation becomes much more difficult to sustain. The Prime Minister needs to think very hard about that.