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Opposition day on Wednesday, 28 October 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Liam Fox. The answering member was Bob Ainsworth.

Future of the Territorial Army

Future of the Territorial Army. Twentieth opposition day debate (part 2). Main question negatived on division (213 votes to 293). Amendment agreed to on question.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
498 c349-96 
Session
2008-09
Department
Ministry of Defence
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 498 c363 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the hon. Member for Stockton, North (Frank Cook), I remind the House that at th...
Lord Swire | 498 c371-2 (Link to this contribution) Yes, as I said, we are where we are. I do not believe there has been much political points scoring f...
Show all contributions (110)
Julian Brazier | 498 c372-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a very powerful point. Would he like to endorse remarks made by an individu...
Lindsay Hoyle | 498 c371 (Link to this contribution) We must dismiss that last point. Members from both sides of the House came together. Rightly, Back B...
Lindsay Hoyle | 498 c370 (Link to this contribution) The first solution was to reinstate the money, and I think that that has gone furthest towards achie...
Ann Winterton | 498 c370 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman seems to be approaching the end of an excellent speech, but before he finishes, w...
James Gray | 498 c371 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point about topical debates. It is worth remembering that thi...
Lord Swire | 498 c371 (Link to this contribution) This has been an unhappy day for the Ministry of Defence and the ministerial team. It started off wi...
Lord Swire | 498 c370 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not think it would also be appropriate for the Secretary of State, or even t...
Lindsay Hoyle | 498 c368 (Link to this contribution) This commitment to the armed forces, and the expenditure, have continued to increase, and I want to ...
Julian Brazier | 498 c368-9 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for allowing me to interrupt his really excellent speech. A...
Lindsay Hoyle | 498 c369 (Link to this contribution) I totally agree: promotion is wanting and it should be given. I wholly agree, and the higher up the ...
Bill Rammell | 498 c369 (Link to this contribution) I have asked for a meeting with officials tomorrow to discuss that very issue.
Lindsay Hoyle | 498 c369-70 (Link to this contribution) I am in danger of always congratulating the Minister: I must do so once again now. I welcome the new...
Crispin Blunt | 498 c367 (Link to this contribution) That is why the cuts to Army cadet training are so appalling, too. Those cuts need to be restored at...
Ian Liddell-Grainger | 498 c367 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend, who served honourably in the cavalry. There is absolutely no doubt that the ...
Robert Smith | 498 c368 (Link to this contribution) It is important, in the follow-through, that the Treasury really delivers this as extra money for th...
Lindsay Hoyle | 498 c367-8 (Link to this contribution) It is pleasing that we are having this debate, which will allow us to express our views, and our com...
Julian Brazier | 498 c366 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to my hon. Friend's excellent speech. On a longer-term issue, his vital point about f...
Ian Liddell-Grainger | 498 c366-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He served honourably in Territorial units and he knows exactly w...
Ian Liddell-Grainger | 498 c366 (Link to this contribution) Of course I will give way to the Parachute Regiment.
Frank Cook | 498 c363-5 (Link to this contribution) I first alerted Mr. Speaker that I would seek to catch his eye in this debate on Monday evening, aft...
Ian Liddell-Grainger | 498 c365-6 (Link to this contribution) I declare that I was a Territorial Army soldier. I was commissioned in 1980 and left in 1992 as a ri...
Willie Rennie | 498 c362-3 (Link to this contribution) Point well made. The situation calls into question the Government's judgment. It was already in que...
Crispin Blunt | 498 c362 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman reflect on the role of special advisers? They are meant to spot these things...
Willie Rennie | 498 c360-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is spot on. The 2006 National Audit Office report specifically referred to the fa...
Willie Rennie | 498 c360 (Link to this contribution) Next time I make a speech, I will sit a wee bit further along so that the hon. Gentleman cannot read...
Lord Swire | 498 c360 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree with the hon. Gentleman. It will be debilitating to those seeking to join the TA ...
Madeleine Moon | 498 c358 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for finding the additional funds for the Territorial Army and its train...
Willie Rennie | 498 c359-60 (Link to this contribution) For the first time ever, I had the Defence Secretary on his knees. Before his speech, he was begging...
Tony Baldry | 498 c360 (Link to this contribution) Given that these cuts have been reversed, is not the most damaging thing about all this its effect o...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c358 (Link to this contribution) Well, the hon. Gentleman's problem is that his hon. Friends on the Conservative Front Bench do not a...
Bill Rammell | 498 c391-2 (Link to this contribution) It was clearly printed as a result of discussion in which the shadow Chancellor had engaged, and I k...
Gerald Howarth | 498 c391 (Link to this contribution) I must tell the Minister that that is an untruth. The Times printed an untruth. That is not what the...
Julian Brazier | 498 c380 (Link to this contribution) That is not the view taken by the vast majority of TA officers. In practice, it means that lance cor...
Philip Dunne | 498 c382-4 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to have the opportunity in the final stages of this debate to make a modest contributio...
Andrew Murrison | 498 c384-8 (Link to this contribution) We have had an extremely good debate, with 10 speeches from Back Benchers. Most of them have been co...
Bill Rammell | 498 c388 (Link to this contribution) We have had a genuinely good debate today, and I would like to thank all Members for their contribut...
Bill Rammell | 498 c389-90 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. The decision involving the communications-driven exerc...
Julian Brazier | 498 c390 (Link to this contribution) May I endorse the point that the Minister has been extremely generous in giving his time to the all-...
Bill Rammell | 498 c390-1 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that; I know about the incredibly good work he does on behalf of the ...
James Gray | 498 c380 (Link to this contribution) The whole House will have the opportunity to thank the Territorial Army soldiers who are currently d...
David TC Davies | 498 c380 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will know that the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers is a militia, and the militia ...
James Gray | 498 c379-80 (Link to this contribution) I add my contribution, as the chairman of the all-party Army group, to the very many magnificent spe...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 498 c379 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the issue is about not just how we look after our soldiers while ...
Speaker | 498 c379 (Link to this contribution) Order. I was beginning to feel that the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies) was enlarging t...
David TC Davies | 498 c379 (Link to this contribution) I have concerns about the Government's policy. My Front Benchers are not in government yet, but I am...
David TC Davies | 498 c379 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has been a Member for longer than me, and he knows that as a Back-Bench Member, I do no...
Eric Joyce | 498 c378 (Link to this contribution) I agree with much of what the hon. Gentleman has just said, but does he think, as he has just implie...
David TC Davies | 498 c377-8 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman. This is about showing the Territorial Army that we respe...
David TC Davies | 498 c378 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman goes back to what I said earlier, I do not believe that we should be thinking ...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 498 c374-5 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes an extremely important point. The Royal Irish Regiment band has raised a ...
David TC Davies | 498 c376-7 (Link to this contribution) I begin by paying tribute to Rifleman Jamie Gunn, Private Kyle Adams and Private Richard Hunt, who l...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 498 c377 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman accepts that many of the members of the TA have served with great ...
Lord Swire | 498 c373 (Link to this contribution) Yes, of course I do. That is why I welcome what the shadow Secretary of State has said about mental ...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 498 c373-4 (Link to this contribution) I wish to speak briefly on behalf of my party on this extremely important matter, which I and a numb...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 498 c374 (Link to this contribution) I attended a concert recently where the band of the Royal Irish Regiment was playing in aid of the A...
Lindsay Hoyle | 498 c354 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c353-4 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way in a moment. Our reserves are no longer held in the role they served during the co...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c354-5 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to hon. Members in a moment. I am hearing Liberal Democrat and Conservative Member...
David TC Davies | 498 c354 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c355 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Chorley (Mr. Hoyle), and then to a selection of ho...
Patrick Mercer | 498 c354 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c354 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. Against that sacrifice, and to ensure our essential national security, Afghanistan com...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c354 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to a number of hon. Members in a moment. Afghanistan First is not only a matter of...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c354 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. We have approved more than £3.2 billion of urgent operational requirements specificall...
Ann Winterton | 498 c350 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that when the Army was asked to make cuts amounting to £43 million, the re...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c353 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from the second 'operations;' to the end of the Question an...
Liam Fox | 498 c352-3 (Link to this contribution) I must tell my right hon. Friend that inside this Government they play the blame game extremely well...
Lord Deben | 498 c352 (Link to this contribution) Has my hon. Friend noticed that whatever the mistake, the Government always blame someone else and n...
Liam Fox | 498 c352 (Link to this contribution) That is a little unkind; a surrender is a surrender. We are always willing to accept one from the Go...
Lembit Opik | 498 c352 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the key issue is that the Government, rather than feeling remorse...
Liam Fox | 498 c351-2 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and many of the myths the Government have been peddling in recent times have been blown apar...
Robert Smith | 498 c351 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the case he is making on the Government's proposed cut to the TA ...
Liam Fox | 498 c350-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend puts her finger on the key point that there will be long-standing damage to morale as...
Liam Fox | 498 c356 (Link to this contribution) For the sake of clarity, we know that more recruits have come forward than expected, but the Army is...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c356 (Link to this contribution) We have—I make no apologies for this—agreed not just with the Chief of the General Staff, but with a...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c357 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for pointing out the contrast between the record of the Opposition and ...
Adam Ingram | 498 c356 (Link to this contribution) I wholly support what my right hon. Friend is doing, and understand the pressures that he is under a...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c357 (Link to this contribution) I have in this year's budget an additional £20 million ring-fenced in order to restore the TA cuts. ...
Lord Deben | 498 c357 (Link to this contribution) First, does the right hon. Gentleman agree that under our Government, we were not at war, and we are...
Adam Holloway | 498 c358 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State speaks about additional resources. Why is it then that our soldiers, includin...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c357-8 (Link to this contribution) Let me make some progress. As I said, no TA soldier is deployed on operations unless the Army is sa...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c358 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has just heard the figures on our increased spending in Afghanistan. He wants inc...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c355 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Member for Newark (Patrick Mercer).
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c355 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I want to do that, but there are people both inside and outside the House who criticise us beca...
Lindsay Hoyle | 498 c355 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way. The Government have a concept of one Army, made up of r...
Julian Brazier | 498 c355 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way. As chairman of the all-party reserve fo...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c355 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Member for Canterbury (Mr. Brazier).
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c355 (Link to this contribution) That is just semantics—[Interruption.] Yes, it is. I am saying that Afghanistan is the main effort. ...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c355-6 (Link to this contribution) I shall make some progress with my speech, and then I shall give way some more so that we can deal w...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c355 (Link to this contribution) I accept that, and I know that the hon. Gentleman is aware that, like him, I have had a real interes...
Liam Fox | 498 c350 (Link to this contribution) Indeed I do, and I think that there is a degree of hurt and resentment that will not quickly go away...
Speaker | 498 c349 (Link to this contribution) Order. Will Members who are not staying for the debate please leave the Chamber as quickly and quiet...
Liam Fox | 498 c350 (Link to this contribution) And it is very easy to pick on the generals instead of the politicians, because if people are given ...
Andrew Selous | 498 c350 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend recognise the particular anger at the Government's recent TA policy that is felt...
Liam Fox | 498 c349-50 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House expresses its continued support for the role of the Territorial Army ...
Lindsay Hoyle | 498 c350 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it was right for the Prime Minister to intervene and overturn a d...
David TC Davies | 498 c379 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman speaks sense on many occasions, and I have no need to elaborate. Will Mini...
Lord Swire | 498 c371 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and I asked in last week's business questions whether we could have a debate in Government t...
Lindsay Hoyle | 498 c370-1 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. We cannot give thanks enough to the businesses in this country that allow their employee...
Bill Rammell | 498 c379 (Link to this contribution) And Conservative Front Benchers' policy.
Bill Rammell | 498 c378 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman confirm whether, like his Front-Bench spokesmen, he believes that we should ...
Patrick Mercer | 498 c355 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the Secretary of State. He is making some extremely good points, but he keeps ...
Bob Ainsworth | 498 c359 (Link to this contribution) I say to my hon. Friend, who has taken an increasing interest in defence matters over a period, that...
James Gray | 498 c380-2 (Link to this contribution) My own experience of the TA and the contacts I have with TA personnel very much confirm what my hon....
Paul Farrelly | 498 c388-9 (Link to this contribution) Clearly, everyone welcomes the rethink on the £20 million for TA training. The armed forces review h...
Chloe Smith | 498 c375-6 (Link to this contribution) I rise to speak on behalf of the 20 members of A Company Third Royal Anglian Regiment who are being ...
Subjects
Deployment Finance Pay Peacekeeping operations Staff Training Reserve forces Territorial Army
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