Armed Forces Bill

I am especially pleased to follow so many considered contributions from colleagues on both sides of the House. This is an important debate. Although I am not a member of the Defence Committee, I, like other Members, want to refer to its excellent reports, which should underpin much of our debate. I welcome the Secretary of State’s intention to modernise the law on the armed forces and to bring it into line with the requirements of the Human Rights Act 1998. The Bill is built on the key principle of fairness—to be fair and to be seen to be fair. It is sensible to update our procedures. As has already been said, our armed forces do difficult tasks in increasingly difficult circumstances and I hope that the Bill will give them some reassurance as they undertake those tasks. We all agree that our armed forces do excellent work and are highly regarded. They need the proper investigative procedures outlined in the Bill. The role of the commanding officer is important. Under the Bill, commanding officers have a duty to ensure that matters drawn to their attention are properly investigated. We need to extend that role in other elements of the Bill. I want to speak from the standpoint of parents whose children have died in peacetime while serving in the armed forces. When my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Defence sums up, will he clarify how the concerns of those parents can be addressed in the legislation? My constituent, Lance Corporal Derek McGregor, died in July 2003 at Catterick barracks. His family are waiting for a date to be set for the coroner’s inquest, so I cannot comment on the circumstances of his death. I can say only that when I met Derek’s father, Joe McGregor, and the parents of children who lost their lives at Deepcut and at other barracks in England, Northern Ireland and overseas, the same phrases cropped up time and time again:"““You have to understand—the Army is a law unto itself””" and"““You have to understand the Army is so arrogant—they think they can get away with murder.””" Those are not my words, but those of parents who buried their children in tragic circumstances.