Member

On Amendment 50 and the issue of the lords-lieutenant, there is one point we have not touched on very much to date regarding the reserves—it was referred to fleetingly by the noble Lord, Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton, who is no longer in his place. We need to think about the future employment of the reserves, not just about the past—I agree entirely. It seems clear to me, and I think it was made clear in the Government’s own strategic defence review, that a very important role for reserves in the future will be to deal with issues of national resilience; that is, national resilience in the face of natural disasters—we had a Question on that earlier today, about the flooding we are likely to see in this country as a result of the recent and current El Niño event— and, of course, if we come under attack from an enemy.