Member

The problems that the Bill seeks to begin to tackle are well known: 14 years of our armed forces being hollowed out and underfunded by the Conservative Government, and, in Scotland, an SNP Government with seemingly little interest in supporting serving personnel for their own petty political reasons, and failing even to properly recognise the role of the Scottish defence industry in our national economy. It is noticeable that once again, as we debate an issue that will affected armed forces personnel in Scotland, no SNP Members are present. We have a crisis in military morale and recruitment. Under the last Government, only four in 10 personnel reported that they were satisfied with service life, the lowest reported level on record. The impact on family life and personal life was the top factor influencing their decision to leave. Meanwhile, we live in an increasingly unstable world in which it seems more and more likely that our armed forces will be needed to play further roles around the world.