Speeches by Murrison.

“Has the Minister seen the report published this week by techUK, which has members across Northern Ireland in the defence sector, focusing particularly on tech? The report expressed concern that the absence of the defence industrial strategy has been the single biggest cause of retardation of its members’ business, and …”

“I am sure the Minister understands that there can be no sustainable ceasefire for as long as there exists in Lebanon an Iranian terrorist proxy that has as its war aim the complete, final and irrevocable destruction of the state of Israel and the Jews who live there. So we are faced, are we not, with trying to mitigate…”

“The question is surely whether victims are given a choice. At the moment, they are. The prosecutors’ protocol usually means that these cases are tried through the civilian criminal justice system. That is fine, but does the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that justice delayed is justice denied? Through the service justice s…”

“I am sure the Minister will like to pay tribute to Alabaré, which does great work for service veterans in and around my constituency. However, will he ensure that we do not give the false impression that all veterans are homeless and have mental health problems? Nothing could be further from the truth. Happily, the gre…”

“I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way; he is being very indulgent. I agree with him and—with respect—not with the Minister, because my recollection from being the Minister at the time was that there was a shortage of officers to populate court martial boards. When in office, we ensured that the process w…”

“I am privileged to be called in this debate. I start by declaring my interests as a reservist and as the author of a book called “Tommy This an’ Tommy That: The military covenant”—which is sadly no longer in print, but is available, I am told, from good charity shops. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Rayleigh and…”

“I am sure the Minister will like to pay tribute to Alabaré, which does great work for service veterans in and around my constituency. However, will he ensure that we do not give the false impression that all veterans are homeless and have mental health problems? Nothing could be further from the truth. Happily, the gre…”

“What about other organisations, including civilian organisations, that work very closely with our armed forces and can deploy with them, such as the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes? An argument could be made for them to be covered as well. It would be interesting to hear whether the Minister has any plans for that—…”

“One area that will blight the lives of many of my right hon. Friend’s constituents as it does mine is, of course, primary care dentistry. People can move from one end of the country to another into a dental desert—Wiltshire is one of those. Does he think that there is a case for putting a duty on integrated care boards…”

“I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way; he is being very indulgent. I agree with him and—with respect—not with the Minister, because my recollection from being the Minister at the time was that there was a shortage of officers to populate court martial boards. When in office, we ensured that the process w…”

“I am concerned by the hon. Gentleman’s remarks. We have the continuous attitude survey, which does its work every year and delivers to Ministers a clear account of what is keeping people in and what is driving them away. Is he seriously proposing another set of reviews, which would add very little to what we already kn…”

“The question is surely whether victims are given a choice. At the moment, they are. The prosecutors’ protocol usually means that these cases are tried through the civilian criminal justice system. That is fine, but does the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that justice delayed is justice denied? Through the service justice s…”

“One area that will blight the lives of many of my right hon. Friend’s constituents as it does mine is, of course, primary care dentistry. People can move from one end of the country to another into a dental desert—Wiltshire is one of those. Does he think that there is a case for putting a duty on integrated care boards…”

“Clause 30 deals with the Armed Forces Commissioner. It is worthwhile remembering why we have one: there was pressure to have some sort of representation of serving people, which was wisely resisted by the Government, and the Armed Forces Commissioner was a sort of compromise. The commissioner is there to recognise the …”

“I am concerned by the hon. Gentleman’s remarks. We have the continuous attitude survey, which does its work every year and delivers to Ministers a clear account of what is keeping people in and what is driving them away. Is he seriously proposing another set of reviews, which would add very little to what we already kn…”

“I thoroughly approve of removing the artificial barrier between the reserves and the regulars—I speak as a reservist and as somebody who perhaps in the past might have had a greater interest in that than I do now. The Haythornthwaite review of armed forces incentivisation is made flesh by the some of the measures in th…”

“In the Bill, there is a clear distinction between commissioned and non-commissioned. I sometimes think we get too wrapped up in all that, when simplicity is usually the best course of action. It would be good to hear from the Minister why he feels that separate arrangements are needed for officers. I understand that th…”

“My only concern about recall for service—it is certainly not at all a philosophical one—is that it makes service more onerous. At a time when we want volunteers in our system to join the armed forces with either the regulars or the reserves, extending their recall liability from six to 18 years and from 55 to 65 years …”

“On the subject of our allies, it would be useful in encouraging a strategic reserve—at the moment I am afraid it is more hypothetical than actual—to emulate perhaps the Nordics, who insist that their reservists come back for a day or two a year in order to have a kit muster, a bit of a briefing and a bit of bonding. In…”

“Many hon. and right hon. Members today have talked about the service justice parts of the Bill, and in many ways those are among the most important elements of it. It is worthwhile saying that, certainly during my time as a Minister, there was difficulty populating court martial boards. The Minister gave a slightly dif…”