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Defence in the UK

I would certainly have tried to prevent it, but whether the Treasury would have allowed me to do so is the question that must be addressed. I have not the slightest doubt that the Ministry of Defence could make the announcement today if it were permitted to do so. Another part of Government is creating the problem, and it is a disgrace. My hon. Friend is right to refer to it. The Minister was good enough to allow me to intervene on him to raise the review of the reserve forces. I welcome the fact that that review is taking a lot longer than originally intended—I make no complaint about that. However, looking at the review's terms of reference, I am not convinced that those conducting it will be able to address the questions that I have raised today. I hope that they will do so—I hope that when the review is published, it will refer to the gross overstretch and misuse of the reserve forces. It is not good enough for the Minister simply to say that individual reservists like going out on operations—of course they do, I have not the slightest doubt about that, but it is not just about their personal interest. Their families and employers are also involved in the process, and the Government know perfectly well that the strains that have developed in recent years have made the current policy unsustainable. I simply conclude by saying, first, that we cannot have foreign and defence policies that are not in harmony. Secondly, if the Government—whoever they are, Labour or Conservative—wish, as I hope they will, to have a world view and a global foreign policy, it is no longer possible to resist the argument that the regular forces in particular have to have the manpower compatible with that aspiration. While the reservists can help and may be used for special occasions, such as surgery requirements, and to fill particular gaps—that is what they are there for; I do not have a problem with that—the idea that they can be a permanent way of supplementing the regular forces and getting regular soldiers on the cheap should never have come into play. It must stop, and the quicker it does, the better.