Speeches by Martin.

“I understand UK Government policy on not commenting on special forces operations or the special forces more generally, but there is a problem with using that as a defence if it is shown that UK special forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan. This particular individual, who is a UKSF officer who served in Afghanista…”

“On that point, because you gave a very full answer earlier, if this officer who rejected all those Triples applications is shown to have acted deliberately, as a mechanism of covering up war crimes through the Afghan special forces inquiry, what should happen to him?”

“What is your thinking on it though?”

“In the light of the Minister’s comments, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 31 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 32 Call out for permanent service Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford, and I thank you for the invitation to remove our jackets. Amendment 7 was tabled in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon. I will just briefly introduce it to the Committee. The idea of a zig-zag career is incredibly important. Unlike pr…”

“I beg to move amendment 7, in clause 31, page 51, line 2, at end insert— “(5) The Secretary of State must, in respect of each financial year, publish a report assessing the impact of the provisions under subsections (3) and (4) on the retention of personnel within His Majesty’s forces. (6) The report under subsection (…”

“Following the comments by the right hon. Member for Tonbridge (Tom Tugendhat), may I make a plea that we put this political blame game to one side? The fleet halved under the previous Labour Government. We all have our fingerprints on the current state of the UK military. It is unedifying for us, for this House and for…”

“I can help out a little with the right hon. Gentleman’s question. The post was not filled. The Government were having some difficulty in filling the post, and—”

“I hope to give the Minister a focused question. He has rightly laid out the importance of the data cables to the UK as an island, and also highlighted Russia’s continued activity over many decades. The frigates that we have in the Royal Navy are really the centrepiece of the anti-submarine war, so my short, focused que…”

“This crisis has laid bare the parlous state of the British military. The three main parties of government should put aside the blame game and accept that we have all played our part in getting the British military into the state that it is in now. For over a year, the Liberal Democrats have been asking for cross-party …”

“This process is, among other things, about protecting British access to the communications spectrum. That is why the previous Government started it, and why the current Government are carrying it on. If we are not able to pass the treaty and ensure that access, what is plan B?”

“The Minister is being very generous with his time. Could he state precisely the difference between SLA and SFA that means we cannot bring them together?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I rise to speak to amendments 3 and 4, which my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon and I have tabled. Amendment 4 is consequential on amendment 3, so I will speak about them together. What we are talking about here is a sensible proposal. Indeed, the Gov…”

“The decent homes standard, as set out in legislation, is a set of principles that can be enforced by the courts, and the courts will make the judgment. When we talk about modern facilities and services, for example, we are talking about what the courts would view as being modern and reasonable. I come back to the fact …”

“If I understand the Minister correctly, he is saying that we are going to take different routes but get to the same place. If he could give me assurances that we are going to see the same standards reflected in SFA as SLA, but they are going to be managed through separate processes, I would be happy to withdraw the ame…”

“Will the MOD publish a timeline for achieving the targets?”

“The right hon. Gentleman is making a very good speech. Does he think that the metrics by which that bonus is judged should be made public?”

“I would like to make some brief comments in support of amendment 15. We should reflect on how the divorce rate is much higher for service personnel because of the vagaries of service life and the stress under which it can put relationships. A measure like this is the least we can do to mitigate the worst excesses that …”

“That is not what new clause 1 seeks to do. It is about amending the Renters’ Rights Act so that defence housing standards cover both service family accommodation and single living accommodation, rather than applying the decent homes standard, as in the previous amendments we discussed.”

“I beg to move amendment 2, in clause 3, page 8, line 13, leave out “service family accommodation” and insert “defence housing”. This amendment requires that the framework agreement governing the new Defence Housing Service pertains to all defence housing.”