Member

In the end, what my predecessor—my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds South (Hilary Benn)—and I have been keen to achieve, and the whole Government are keen to achieve, is a balanced piece of legislation. While I have been in the Chamber, the Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen), has been talking to people in some of the other armed forces associations. One point made by several of them is that they just want the legislation to be fair and balanced. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Alex Baker) earlier, and I say to my hon. Friends the Members for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns) and for Southend East and Rochford (Mr Alaba), I want to continue the process of ensuring that we end up with a fair and balanced piece of legislation on the statute book. I guarantee to work with them, and with anybody across the House, to try to achieve that.