Armed Forces Bill

I absolutely sympathise with my hon. Friend the Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Harry Cohen) about the process by which amendments to the Bill were garnered. It was exceptionally unfair to several hon. Members who were busy on that particular day, despite the earlier timetabling. There has been a natural tendency for those with military experience to engage in past debates on military subjects more thoroughly than others. At times, those of us without military experience have felt that our views have somehow not been valued as much as theirs. However, despite the fact that some of us have taken a separate view from large sections of the House in previous debates, especially on military action, we all come to such debates with empathy and respect for those who serve in the military. Let my put on the record my family experience. My father served in the Army in the second world war. One of my uncles served in the RAF and another served in the Navy. On my mother’s side, my grandfather served in the first world war and my great-grandfather served in the first world war and the Boer war. We thus come to the debate with a shared experience over generations and a respect for those who serve in the military for what they do and the essential role that they play in securing the safety of this country. We also come to the debate following discussions with serving personnel and those who are no longer serving. Such people have had experiences in Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the Balkans and, more recently, Iraq. I tabled amendments Nos. 8 and 9—perhaps a bit more expeditiously than my hon. Friend the Member for Leyton and Wanstead, but with only hours to spare—because I wanted to encourage a debate about desertion. When the Bill was introduced, it was presented as a non-contentious tidying-up exercise that was largely to do with legalised drafting to consolidate existing laws. However, it was also argued that the Bill would give us the opportunity to update laws that applied to those serving in the military and civilians associated with military activity. Clause 8, however, does not update existing law. It translates almost exactly the existing threat of life imprisonment for those who refuse to fight—those who desert—from past law into new law. However, it also extends that threat to those who refuse to participate in the occupation of subjugated countries and territories. Clause 40 again translates existing sanctions into new law by threatening those who incite others to desert with life imprisonment. The threat of life imprisonment in such circumstances is little short of barbaric. My hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) has tabled new clauses 1 and 2, which relate to what happened during the first world war. At that time, we deprived people of their lives for desertion by shooting them at dawn. Through the Bill, we are maintaining the deprivation of life by threatening to imprison people for the rest of their lives if they refuse to engage in military activity or the occupation of a foreign country. I thought that we would have moved on from the last century and that we would have the opportunity to abolish that sanction by updating our legislation. I also thought that we would have learned more about why people desert from our experiences of the two world wars and, more recently, of the Balkans and Iraq. In many instances, people desert due to fear about the threat to their lives and safety and because of trauma. Many such people are in absolute panic. In particular, due to the debate about the casualties of the first world war through the shot-at-dawn campaign, I thought that we were developing a more sympathetic understanding that we did not need to use such barbaric sanctions. There are others who refuse to fight based upon conscience. We have had that debate in this Chamber on a number of occasions when deciding whether to send our troops to war. We are able to exercise our right of conscience. I remember the debate about Iraq and our heavy discussions about the theory of just war and whether Iraq was a just war. I thought that we had extended that right of conscience to military personnel. I appreciate that there is a system under which people can claim to be conscientious objectors. From the evidence from the Peace Pledge Union and others that was provided to the Select Committee that considered the Bill, it is clear that that system is not regulated within statute. It is a procedure, but it is not within this legislation, which was meant to update and to consolidate the processes of law controlling issues around desertion. I thought that, eventually, it would control the processes for the exercise of conscience. While taking evidence, we discovered that military personnel were not adequately informed not only of their right to exercise their right of conscience, but of the processes themselves. The position was outlined in the Select Committee by the Peace Pledge Union. That brought forth a memorandum from the Ministry of Defence, which at least explained the process, even though it had not advertised it in any leaflets or in the practical advice given to serving personnel. The rejection of the process of an armed forces federation to assist those who wish to exercise their right undermines their ability to access the procedures themselves. I hope that later, in a debate on a new clause, we may accede to the request to strengthen the right of representation for serving military personnel. I do not believe that this part of the Bill is a tidying-up exercise. I believe that the Bill is really about the war in Iraq. We are aware that the number of absconders has trebled since the invasion of Iraq. There has been an increase in the number of soldiers questioning Government policy about that invasion, an increase in the number of soldiers questioning the morality and legality of the occupation and an increase in the number of serving personnel speaking out.