DC: Don't cut training for our armed forces

This week MPs returned to a Parliament still engulfed in the expenses crisis. My message to Conservative MPs was clear: money has got to be paid back, and everyone has to abide by the eventual decision on how much they should pay. To me, that's the least we can do to try and sort out the problems of the past, before going on into the future.

As an Opposition, we've still got an important job to do of holding this Government to account. That's why I made it clear to the Prime Minister this week that it's unforgivable that the training budget of our Reserve Forces is being cut. It's crazy that a government which was willing to waste £12 billion on a pointless VAT cut won't spend £20 million on making sure that the Territorial Army is kept ready and prepared.

The Prime Minister later sent me a letter insisting that reservists will still get their standard pre-deployment training. But that's like telling professional football players to rely on pre-match warm-up sessions before going onto the football pitch. The only difference is that we're talking about volunteer soldiers here - and their football pitch is Afghanistan.

I know how fed up people are with all the things that have been going wrong in our Parliament. But these cuts in the TA show only too clearly that until people finally have a chance to pass their judgments at a General Election, we've got to focus on the job we've all been elected to do.




Comments

Jane said…
Like David Cameron I was appalled at the decision to cut the TA training budget. These are reserve soldiers, who are expected to do a professional job. The risks they are taking are as high as any full time trained soldier. They are entitled to the same level of training and not a pre-match warm up before going into action.

It is immoral to expect brave dedicated men and women to put themselves in a position where they may be killed or seriously disabled without the best training and equipment available.

David Cameron is doing a good job pointing this out to Gordon Brown. He is proving his metal as the opposition leader in training for Government.
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