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Armed Forces Personnel

It is an honour to contribute to the debate today. I am in the place of my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey), who has to leave early for a long-standing constituency engagement. He apologises to the House, although I am sure that he is able to speak for himself. Today's debate follows a debate on the military covenant last month led by the Liberal Democrats. There were some excellent contributions to that debate. Then, like today, no Members from the Scottish National party were present. They claim to be a party of government who want to govern Scotland, but they seem to have little interest in the defence of the nation, as I am sure Members across the House would agree. I shall be vacating my position on the Defence Committee. Members of the Committee have entertained my serving as a spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats and as a member of the Committee at the same time, and I am grateful to them for that. [Interruption.] I particularly enjoy the contributions from the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr. Jones), who seems unable to keep quiet today. I thank the Chairman for his leadership of the Committee during that time. It has been an enjoyable experience. We have done some good work, as I hope the Secretary of State for Defence would agree. I shall be sad to leave the Committee.