PM's pledge to military families

[techie_tubby]

I saw this interview the other day on the news and I really hope it comes to fruition. The "Military Covanent" does need to be looked at and IMHO formally drawn up if it isn't already so. Our families do go through alot and it would be nice to see them supported more while their husbands/wifes/partners are away.

 

[rest have risen above me]

I'm sorry but there is no need for a formal covenant. The military covenant's basis is honour,decency and gratitude not management speak. Unfortunately there seem to be politicians and civil servants involved which complicates the matter (as honour and integrity seem to be lacking in certain areas)

 

[BillyBunter]

David Cameron last year was the only leader to come and welcome the RAF people within Westminster. I like the guy and he will do us good . Others need to wake up and smell the coffee

 

[Climebear]

Nothing new here, it is laid out in the Conservatives Manifesto

A New Covenant For the Armed Forces and Their Families: The Conservative Armed Forces Manifesto 2010

I hope that anyone in the miltary that voted for the Tories read this and compared it with the alternatives before casting their vote.

Key commitments are:

Strategic Defence Review

Reduce MOD running costs by 25%

Reform of procurement structure and process

Introduce a formal Military Covenant

Double OA for those in Afghanistan (though it doesn't say when from )

Maximise R&R so that it starts when the individual arrives in the UK.

An effiiency review to accellerate the refurbishment of armed forces accn.

Extra school support for Service children

Review the issuing of medals​

It will be interestin to watch this being implemented (if it is). Mind you, I am not sure how much will be left of the Defence after the first 2 commitments. Add to the 25% cut the repayment of £700 million 'loaned' to the MOD by the Treasury for UORs (see the Times below) and there may not be much left.

Gerald Howarth, the new Tory minister for defence procurement, disclosed that the financial pressures on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) were even graver than he had been expecting. “The appetite for new programmes exceeded the capacity of the MoD’s stomach, particularly in the run-up to the election,” he said. “In the past few months there was a rush of new orders. What we are going to have to do is ensure the equipment programme matches the military need.”

Defence sources say the military has been using the urgent operational requirement (UOR) to borrow money from the Treasury to fund equipment for Afghanistan that the MoD could not afford to buy. “They’ve been using the UOR system like a credit card,” one source said, “and they’ve been maxing out on the card to the point where they’re around £700m over the limit. It’s all got to be paid back.”

From The Times website: Labour hid ‘scorched earth’ debts

 

[Gillo]

Nothing new here, it is laid out in the Conservatives Manifesto

A New Covenant For the Armed Forces and Their Families: The Conservative Armed Forces Manifesto 2010

I hope that anyone in the miltary that voted for the Tories read this and compared it with the alternatives before casting their vote.

Key commitments are:

Strategic Defence Review

Reduce MOD running costs by 25%

Reform of procurement structure and process

Introduce a formal Military Covenant

Double OA for those in Afghanistan (though it doesn't say when from )

Maximise R&R so that it starts when the individual arrives in the UK.

An effiiency review to accellerate the refurbishment of armed forces accn.

Extra school support for Service children

Review the issuing of medals​

You forgot to add Public Sector Pay Freeze and urgent review into Pensions.

 

[MrMasher]

I thought the UORs were paid from a reserve and didn't have to be paid back?

 

[Climebear]

I thought the UORs were paid from a reserve and didn't have to be paid back?

IIRC that used to be the case; however, I understand that the Treasury changed the rules a few years back.

 

[FOMz]

Nothing new here, it is laid out in the Conservatives Manifesto

A New Covenant For the Armed Forces and Their Families: The Conservative Armed Forces Manifesto 2010

I hope that anyone in the miltary that voted for the Tories read this and compared it with the alternatives before casting their vote.

Key commitments are:

Strategic Defence Review

Reduce MOD running costs by 25%

Reform of procurement structure and process

Introduce a formal Military Covenant

Double OA for those in Afghanistan (though it doesn't say when from )

Maximise R&R so that it starts when the individual arrives in the UK.

An effiiency review to accellerate the refurbishment of armed forces accn.

Extra school support for Service children

Review the issuing of medals​

You forgot to add Public Sector Pay Freeze and urgent review into Pensions.

The proof will be in the pudding and to be honest, they say this - but i don't believe a word of it. A lot of give aways there... where's the cash going to come from to pay for it all?

 

[grumpyoldb]

The proof will be in the pudding and to be honest, they say this - but i don't believe a word of it. A lot of give aways there... where's the cash going to come from to pay for it all?

Reduce MOD running costs by 25%

Reform of procurement structure and process

 

[FOMz]

A 25% reduction means just that.... a reduction, not a 'reduction' which will be used to pay for votes. So comeon GOB how are they going pay for it ? I don't believe a word of it.

 

[Joe_90]

Actually Climebear I based my opinion on who to vote for on what they were planning to do for the Country as a whole and as all 3 main parties kept pretty quiet about that part I had to deduce myself what type of politics they were going to give us. Labour had 13 years where they did nothing but spend and then our Prime Minister stood up at the height of the recession and told us that when he was quoted as saying "no more boom and bust" what he actually meant was "no more Tory boom and bust". If he had won this man may well have still been running the Country when statements like that prove he is bordering on the mentally ill, a recession isn't less painful because of the colour of the tie worn by the political party in power at the time.
The Lib Dem politics just don't mesh with my own at all and their desire to see us in the Euro at just about any cost frightens me and my other 2 candidates apart from Conservative were UKIP and SNP, I don't think I have to explain why I couldn't bring myself to vote for either of that pair.
At the end of the day my vote counted for nothing in Scotland because people would rather be poor and let Labour steal money from them by stealth than vote for a party who at least admit they have to take that money.

 

[Climebear]

Actually Climebear I based my opinion on who to vote for on what they were planning to do for the Country as a whole and as all 3 main parties kept pretty quiet about that part I had to deduce myself what type of politics they were going to give us. Labour had 13 years where they did nothing but spend and then our Prime Minister stood up at the height of the recession and told us that when he was quoted as saying "no more boom and bust" what he actually meant was "no more Tory boom and bust". If he had won this man may well have still been running the Country when statements like that prove he is bordering on the mentally ill, a recession isn't less painful because of the colour of the tie worn by the political party in power at the time.
The Lib Dem politics just don't mesh with my own at all and their desire to see us in the Euro at just about any cost frightens me and my other 2 candidates apart from Conservative were UKIP and SNP, I don't think I have to explain why I couldn't bring myself to vote for either of that pair.
At the end of the day my vote counted for nothing in Scotland because people would rather be poor and let Labour steal money from them by stealth than vote for a party who at least admit they have to take that money.

Joe 90 - Where in my post did I say that anyone should have voted purely on what each party said about Defence? I also didn't say that people shouldn't have voted Tory.

Voting is an important individual responsibility, it should be exercised well. To that end, we should all understand what we are voting for - you cannot gain a balanced opinion by reading the Daily Mail/ Telegraph/The Sun/The Times etc or just watching TV debates. To do this takes effort on our behalf to research the parties' proposed policies and arguments. Being part of Defence then I would like to know what each party planned to inform my decision; but not be the sole driver for it.

If we don't take our democratic responsibilities seriously and put the effort in ourselves , then we can't really complain with what we end up with.

Anyway, whoever we vote for the Government always gets in

 

[R_Squared]

Quite frankly the financial situation renders any pre-election promises on defence almost moot.
We are going to be hacked to the bone, I suspect that we will all feel it first in redundancies and reductions in allowances and after we have been pulled out of Afghanistan, we will be squeezed for every last drop.
I sincerely hope that the axe falls heaviest on our leadership. We are teetering with overpaid, max pension air officers, who account for a huge swathe of cash without producing a great deal.
Unfortunately, turkeys never vote for Christmas, so we will be the ones to feel the pinch, not them.