Stephen Morgan MP has called for the government to forge a constructive consensus on legislation to protect our Armed Forces from vexatious claims.
The purpose of the Overseas Operations Bill is to provide greater legal protections to Armed Forces personnel and veterans serving on military operations overseas.
The Shadow Defence team has vowed to fight for serving troops and veterans for their right to justice from the government, arguing the bill protects the government, not armed forces personnel.
However, the Shadow Armed Forces Minister has argued the bill does not in fact offer the legal protections that it is said to provide, and risks damaging Britain’s international reputation.
Speaking in the House of Commons this afternoon, Stephen Morgan MP said,
“Unfortunately, the government has got important parts of this Bill badly wrong.
“In its current form it risks damaging our reputation and failing to protect of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces.
“If I have one message for the Minister it is this: As this bill continues its passage through Parliament, commit to improving it alongside us.
“Let’s work together to protect our troops, their reputation and our international standing.”
The Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey MP, added,
“We all want the same thing. We want to protect British troops and we want to protect British values. And this should not mean a matter of party politics.
“We will seek time to overhaul investigations, set up safeguards against vexatious claims consistent with our international obligations and guarantee troops retain their right to compensation claims when MoD failures lead to injury or death of our forces overseas.”
You can read the full text of the Member for Portsmouth South’s speech via his website, or see a clip here.
