Opposition Day — [4th Allotted Day] — Military Covenant — 12 Dec 2007 at 16:06

I beg to move,

That this House notes the commitment, bravery and professionalism of the UK's armed forces in operations around the world; further notes with concern the detrimental impact that sustained operations on two fronts are having on the armed forces and their capabilities, resulting in critical overstretch; believes that the Government should conduct a new strategic defence review and reinforce it with regular reviews of defence after each general election; urges the Government to do more to honour its duty of care, notably through accelerating the improvement and upgrading of service accommodation, providing greater provisions for mental health and medical care for service personnel, ring-fencing the defence budget for welfare and introducing a Coroners Bill to help address delays in inquests into military fatalities; and calls on the Government to renew the Military Covenant and set up a cross-party Military Covenant Committee to monitor the state of the armed forces and their welfare.

I beg to move, To leave out from "House" to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:

"recognises the commitment, bravery and professionalism of the armed forces in all their operations; further recognises the enormous contribution made by service families to the effectiveness of the UK's armed forces and the debt owed by the nation to veterans; welcomes the major programme of improvements made by the Government to support all of these groups since 1997, including in the areas of medical support and improvement and replacement of sub-standard service accommodation; further welcomes the role played by ex-service organisations and other charities in contributing to the support of these groups and the Government's commitment to working closely with such bodies to improve support in the future; and commends the Government's decision to produce a cross-cutting Command Paper setting out the progress already achieved in this area and what more will be done in the future."

Question put, That the original words stand part of the Question:-

The House divided: Ayes 71, Noes 302.

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