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Defence in the UK

Of course, all defence decisions are matters of priority in the budget. The report's recommendations will go to the shadow Cabinet in due course and I hope that it will consider favourably at the appropriate time those that are possible to advance under prevailing economic circumstances, which the Government have not yet taken up. As I said, the process is the outcome of the interaction between the Government, the Opposition and, as the hon. Lady rightly reminds me, all the important bodies, organisations and confederations that support the armed forces. The outcome should be improvements for our service personnel, and politicians should not argue over the spoils of who gets the credit, as long as the outcome is good. We welcome it when the Government introduce their ideas and when they include some of ours among them. We will continue to welcome that when the parties' roles are reversed—hopefully in the not-too-distant future. From time to time, we read about servicemen in uniform being insulted at petrol stations or servicemen out of uniform not being allowed to book into hotels. I applaud the former Under-Secretary, the hon. Member for Halton, who described it as ““deplorable”” when an injured paratrooper, who had flown home from Afghanistan to organise a comrade's funeral, had to sleep in his car overnight because he was refused a hotel room. The hotel's behaviour was absolutely despicable, and I am encouraged by the Minister of State's comments about the 79 per cent. support for our armed forces among the public at large. Long may that support endure. However, it cannot be reiterated too often. I am glad that ““welcome home”” parades have begun to take root in society generally. My hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Mr. Howarth) organised one of the first, and parades now take place in the heart of Westminster and returning troops are welcomed in the Palace of Westminster. I am sure that that gives them an experience that they fully appreciate, and that they feel that it shows that all their efforts have been recognised at the centre of our democratic system.