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Defence Policy

I do, indeed, and that possibility should be explored further. For 10 years those at senior levels of the Government and the military have tried to address this issue, but we have failed. The time has come to put in place within the armed forces—a disciplined, authoritarian, structured organisation—a command responsibility, as they have done in the United States, that recognises that command success will be determined by an ability to recruit from across the community. Finally, I would like to raise a point about the 200 residents in my constituency who have just been billed for nearly £1,000 in water charges back-dated five years—this just before Christmas. They are predominantly low and modest-income families on the west camp at MOD St. Athan living in the former married quarters—they are now first-time buys for young families. Because of MOD bureaucracy, those people have received bills dating from five years ago that have landed on their doorsteps completely unexpectedly, and I hope that Ministers will waive those payments.