This is why I vote Conservative

Steve Conyers (@oxfordspring) Posted by Steve Conyers (@oxfordspring)
Sunday, 10th January 2010

Yesterday I heard some very exciting news.

It appeared last night here on the BBC news website, and this morning was announced as official party policy on the Conservative Party website. Yes – it is the plan to give scholarships to the children of deceased military personnel.

Why does it matter so much? Currently army pay is poor at any level. Were you to factor in the time a soldier is actually in service to their pay, they get paid an absolute pittance per hour. Their accommodation is, generally, pretty rubbish. They are currently hugely overstretched fighting a war for us in Afghanistan. Much of this is, alas, typical and to be expected in the soldier’s life.

But this government has been pretty rubbish to our armed forces personnel. They have hardly increased defence spending in real terms at all in the last 10 years, and in terms of GDP it has fallen dramatically. This while expecting our armed forces to travel to Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan? This has led to the breakdown of the Military Covenant, which very simply states that Britain has a ‘duty of care’ to its fighting men and women. News today, a parting shot from the battered Geoff Hoon, confirmed the Prime Minister’s personal involvement in this breakdown.

But they have not only failed to support our armed forced with boots and helicopters, they failed to support them in Whitehall. For over a year, Des Browne was both Secretary of State for Defence AND Secretary of State for Scotland, leading some to believe that the army was only worthy of a part-time minister. The Prime Minister has never held a formal war cabinet, which has led to a lack of coordination across Whitehall and with our allies. The current Secretary of State for Defence, Bob Ainsworth, is such a mess that even most of his own party don’t support him and who has suggested CUTS, yes that’s right, CUTS in current front-line Defence spending. No wonder that injured soldiers at Selly Oak Hospital drew their curtains rather than see the leader of this government.

That is why my party, the Conservative party, has introduced this policy. Some might call it gimmicky, and what better an insult! Everyone wants this: it confirms that a new Conservative government would take the Military Covenant seriously again. It doesn’t cost anything to the increasing deficit because the money will be taken out of the £455 million Widening Participation budget, and at £1.5 million it’s cheap at the price. In fact, it is not much more expensive that the most recent Direct Gov advert. The current losses of personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan has left not only more children in need of a break, but has left SSAFA and other military charities overstretched and in need of high profile campaigns such as this in the Daily Mail. They do an untold amount of good work, but it is time that government started to do some of the heavy lifting.

And to those who say it is a gimmick and should be ignored, I would ask them to look at the rest of my party’s policy on Defence. Not only has David Cameron answered calls to introduce a cross-party war cabinet, the shadow cabinet has also pledged to double the current operational allowance to £4,800 for a six-month tour and piloting a Mental Health Service for veterans. This policy fits into a pattern that the Labour government aren’t familiar with: respect and responsibility.

Last week, George Osborne and William Hague were out in Afghanistan talking to troops, working out the best way that money can be spent and, let’s be honest here, making some tough decisions. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister was fighting another silly revolt within his own party. He later laughably claimed that he was ‘just getting on with the job’: if we believe Peter Watt that is probably the last thing we want! This all proves that my party, the Conservative Party, is that of the forces.

This is possibly the best single policy I have heard from any party in months, perhaps years. It’s quick, it’s cheap, it’s effective, it’s popular. In fact, there could be no reason for any MP not to support it (and judging by the private conversations I have had with some MPs, none would oppose it). This is why I vote Conservative.