(City of Chester)
(Lab):...I am most grateful to the hon. and gallant
Gentleman, whom I consider a friend. His service in the Cheshire
Regiment we should never fail to recognise, and the experience he
brings to the House should never be underestimated. The House may
wish to know that he is still held in extremely high regard in my
constituency.
I do not think the closure of the barracks will assist the Army
in its effectiveness and I ask the Government to think again.
I wish to touch briefly on two other issues. The first was
mentioned by the right hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Sir Jeffrey
M. Donaldson) and concerns Northern Ireland. The criminal
investigations into every death there involving the British Army
during the troubles are wrong. If evidence of a crime can be
presented, it should be investigated, but a blanket inquiry
cannot be justified. The hon. Member for Aldershot (Sir Gerald
Howarth) talked about a statute of limitations; I do not know
about that.
As I have mentioned, many former members of the Cheshire
Regiment, which served with distinction in Northern Ireland, are
either originally from, or have since settled in, my
constituency. Their service should be their honour, and I will
defend them. Some of them may be implicated now in the new
inquiry. In the specific terms of today’s debate on the armed
forces covenant, if the Government have not already done so— if
they have, I apologise—will they consider guaranteeing full legal
support to any ex-serviceman or woman who is dragged into this
unfair mess?
My final point is also about veterans and ex-servicemen. I wish
to mention my constituent Ray Tindall, along with John Armstrong,
Nick Dunn, Nicholas Simpson, Paul Towers and Billy Irving. They
remain incarcerated in a prison in Chennai in India wrongly
convicted of a crime they did not commit...
(East Renfrewshire)
(SNP): I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this
incredibly important point. Does he agree that, as service
veterans, they are owed even more of a duty of care by this UK
Government, who should be doing everything possible to get them
home, where they belong?
: I certainly
agree with the hon. Lady and shall draw my comments to a close on
that very theme.
Those people are all are ex-servicemen. Ray was in the Indian
ocean with the other men to raise a little bit of money, in his
case to grow his business in Chester. I will raise the case of
the Chennai Six at every opportunity, because, with the greatest
respect to MOD Ministers, I do not believe that our Foreign
Office is being vigorous enough in its calls on the Indian
Government to release the men. Ray has seen active service in
recent conflicts, and if the covenant means anything—to them and
to me—it means that we must continue all our efforts to bring him
and those other lads home.
: I conclude
by echoing the sentiments of the hon. Member for City of Chester
(Christian Matheson) and appealing to the Minister to work with
the Foreign Office to bring the Chennai Six—my constituent Billy
Irving and his colleagues, all military veterans—home
from India and back to their families,
where they belong.
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