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Armed Forces

My Lords, I, too, welcome the debate and the White Paper on which it is based. With our troops engaged in armed conflict in two major theatres, it is absolutely right that we regularly look at all the issues concerning them. This applies not only to their physical and equipment needs, which are mightily important, but to the political and military background to what is happening and how we can get our Armed Forces back to their regular rhythm. That is the way in which I should like to shape my few remarks today. With other noble Lords, I pay tribute to those engaged in the present conflict. There are thousands of members of our forces, and the civilians who support them, now engaged in perilous activity in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Many more are still engaged in other military activity at home and abroad, and they, too, should not be forgotten as we thank those who lay their lives and limbs on the line for our freedom. We are amazingly lucky to have such people to serve us and this country. They have a uniquely British spirit and tenacity, as well as genuine and admirable courage and professionalism, which should and does make us all deeply proud of them. As honorary colonel of the London Scottish, a component part of the London Regiment and closely connected to the Scots Guards, I have met many of the ordinary, yet extraordinary, members of the Territorial Army who have served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. We are now using our Reserve Forces much more than ever in the past. The reroling of the Territorial Army following the Strategic Defence Review has been one of the great successes. My admiration of those with whom I have come into contact and of their carrying out with great success what we expect them to do knows no bounds. We owe all who serve in the Armed Forces a great deal, and we have a responsibility to ensure that they are well looked after, have the right equipment to do the job, and stay as safe as they can be in a war zone. In many fields, huge improvements have been made to the conditions of those who serve us. My noble friend Lady Taylor has this evening outlined many of the improvements that have taken place. I pay tribute to her work during the period in which she has been in the Ministry of Defence. I am glad that the Prime Minister kept her there, because her expertise and experience will be of great use in the future. I know that all John Hutton’s predecessors as Secretary of State—Geoff Hoon, John Reid and Des Browne—have felt deeply and personally about the sacrifices that we regularly ask for, and have been intent on doing the right thing by our troops. I pay tribute to their decisions and the changes that have been made. I know that John Hutton, who has been a friend and long-time colleague, will be an outstanding holder of the office. I am impressed by the command document and the way in which it focuses on improving so many areas of welfare. Having been a Secretary of State for Defence and struggled with the Treasury and other government departments on some of these very same issues a decade ago, I recognise that we have made serious progress. I notice that my former deputy, the noble Lord, Lord Gilbert, is with us in the Chamber. He will remember our fights with certain people across the road, who have now changed their mind substantially, I am glad to say. The top-level tariffs in the Armed Forces compensation scheme have been doubled. Compensation is much more generous than it has been, although it in no way compensates for the terrible tragedies that have befallen some people. Access to adapted social housing is provided for more seriously injured people. Priority access is given to other social housing. Free additional education up to first-degree level is offered to service leavers after six years of service, which follows on an idea in the Strategic Defence Review which we were never able to deliver at the time. In terms of the National Health Service, childcare provision, the disadvantage in accessing school places and the improvements in Defence Medical Services, the Government have a lot to be proud of, even if some issues will continue to need attention. As other noble Lords have done, I also pay tribute to the service charities because they do a huge amount of work. SSAFA, the British Legion and others are actively engaged in the detailed work so often required to deal with the many people who have been in active service and who are just leaving. I am a trustee of the British Forces Foundation, an organisation founded by Mr Jim Davidson, the comedian and Conservative—these are mutually exclusive at times. Over the years he has delivered entertainment by himself and by his friends in show business. It has been hugely successful. The entertainment provided to our troops, especially in-theatre, is very valuable indeed for building morale. For this reason I am pleased to assist the British Forces Foundation. All of us who have served in the greatest office of state in the Ministry of Defence know those daily life-and-death decisions which devolve down to the ordinary soldier, sailor, airman and airwoman. No Defence Minister I have ever met has been immune from the heavy, ever present burden carried for ensuring that as much as possible is done, as often as possible and in as many circumstances as possible, to ensure that our people are both effective and safe. As in any war, there will be mistakes, shortages and missing equipment. There will also be coroners who will generalise on the particular, often well after the event and usually long after the lessons have been learned. The pace of conflict today is so swift that urgent operational requirements are now driving the whole equipment budget. That is because requirements are often only seen on the battlefield and as circumstances alter and become evident. The old military saying that no plan survives the first engagement with the enemy is as true today as it was in the past. That is why urgent operational requirements have amounted to £3.6 billion since the beginning of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. These come from outside the stated defence budget. Of these, 85 per cent are related to force protection. The Government are doing the right thing in making sure that our forces are protected. Every injury caused by the wrong kit is a singular tragedy but they often arise in more complex situations than the black and white world of 20/20 vision. Three hundred and one members of our Armed Forces have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since hostilities began. Anyone who saw the BBC television programme two weeks ago called ““The Fallen””, which itemised every single one of those of our troops who has perished and the impact that it has had on their close families and friends, will understand just how tragic each one of these casualties is. We mourn each and every one of them. We also remember the many others who have come home with injuries, both physical and mental. Their welfare must continue to be a priority. I spoke earlier about the political and diplomatic backdrop to the fighting in both theatres. There will be no safe return of our troops until this has been addressed and a political outcome obtained and settled. As Secretary-General of NATO, I had a lot to do with the decision that the alliance take on responsibility for that co-operative effort in post-Taliban Afghanistan called ISAF—the International Security and Assistance Force. I may have moved on from that post but my responsibility and my passion has in no way diminished. What we are doing in Afghanistan today is defending this country. That is what it is about—defending our country, our liberties and our way of life. That fact is all too often ignored, misunderstood, even dismissed, but it is true none the less. Threats to our country no longer lie at our national frontiers; they germinate in failed and weak states such as Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and, as we are now seeing every day, Somalia. They grow deadly tentacles which spread out from these failed states into our own streets, with the 7/7 bombings on the London Underground, the attacks on the twin towers or on the trains in Madrid or to the US embassy in Nairobi, to Istanbul, to Bali and even to Glasgow Airport and London’s Haymarket. So if the Taliban were to beat NATO, or the nations of NATO were to allow it to be defeated, then the forces of darkness—al-Qaeda and its like—would stop for only a very brief moment to congratulate themselves on defeating the greatest defence alliance that the world has known, and then they will be back in our midst. That is why our troops fight in Helmand province; it is why so many have died and been injured, why so many others take the risks with us—the Canadians most notably—and why their sacrifices matter to every citizen of this country. As the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, said, we are facing a financial crisis, not just in this but in every country. Inevitably, that means that there will not be extra money for defence or, indeed, for pretty well any other public services. We can therefore no longer talk in terms of notional expenditure that we want to see spent on our Armed Forces and on defence; we have to make better decisions about the money that we already spend. That will mean tough decisions for those who have responsibility for making the recommendations. No party in this country will be able to outbid another in terms of the money it would spend on defence because it simply will not be believed. So each party has to make its recommendations within the envelope that exists at the moment or even one that might conceivably shrink in the future. There is much more that I would say about the dilemmas facing the NATO nations in Afghanistan if there were more time. Some of that will be contained in the interim report of the IPPR’s Commission on National Security in the 21st Century, which will be published on Thursday morning. The noble Lord, Lord Ashdown, and I have co-‘chaired this commission, which includes a wide range of distinguished experts and will give a number of pointers as to what needs to be done. Let me give one example from our report. We believe that there should be a more regional approach to a solution in Afghanistan, which should and must include involving Iran in discussions. There must also be closer co-ordination, even control, of all the external assistance to the Government of Afghanistan. It was a great pity, bordering on a tragedy, that President Karzai vetoed the appointment of the noble Lord, Lord Ashdown, as the overseer of external assistance to Afghanistan. I hope that a search will continue for somebody of his calibre, experience and leadership qualities so that the people of Afghanistan can get a much better return from what is coming to them. Let me add to this list regarding Afghanistan the view of a senior Army officer, a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, whom I met at Edinburgh Airport last Thursday evening. He said that unless the issues of corruption and narcotics in Afghanistan are not gripped decisively and soon, we will not find a long-term solution to the encroaching influence of the Taliban. Our troops are giving their all. More nations need to provide more troops and use them as fighting troops and not as beat policemen. Afghanistan needs the promised development cash as well, which it has been regularly promised but which has rarely been delivered. I remind the House that our troops, and all the troops serving outside Kabul, are part of provincial reconstruction teams. They were to provide security to those providing the reconstruction in schools, hospitals, industry and all the substitute activities for the growing of the poppy. The soldiers try, often at the expense of their own lives and limbs, to provide the security—but where is the reconstruction? Our fine fighting forces and those who support them, both in theatre and at home, are doing with magnificence what we demand of them. How much more important it is that we do what we, the leaders of the nations of the ordered world, have to do to let them come home with honour, with the job well done. That is our part of a solemn bargain.