Today in Parliament, Labour MPs have a choice.
They can support Keir Starmer’s vindictive plan to pursue our brave veterans through the courts.
Or, they can decide that they’ve finally had enough of blindly following the orders of a Prime Minister who keeps letting them, and the country, down.
Last time this Bill was in Parliament, more than 100 Labour MPs were too scared to support the government. Ministers conveniently found a reason to be unavailable including Defence Secretary John Healey and Armed Forces minister Al Carns.
We already know that Carns has found an excuse to avoid the Commons again tomorrow. Deep down he knows, and Labour MPs know, that Keir Starmer’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill is bad and wrong.
The Bill also tells you all you need to know about Starmer’s priorities. Rather than taking the tough decisions needed to cut spending and fund defence, he is more interested in dragging veterans through courts.
Soldiers who risked their lives in defence of our nation deserve dignity, respect and protection.
Of course, British soldiers should fight within the law. But this Bill could open the door to vexatious claims against elderly veterans decades after service. It’s the last thing they or our court system needs.
Hounding our veterans through the courts like criminals will make people think twice about joining our Armed Forces, just when we need to recruit more. Only the hard-of-thinking can’t see this.
This is student politics at its worst. An obsession with righting what some see as the wrongs of the distant past, rather than doing anything about the real challenges currently facing Britain.
There’s still no Defence Investment Plan. Still no Defence Readiness Plan. Still nothing from Starmer on how he intends to get defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP in the next five years.
This Bill displays this same obsession with lawfare that saw Labour try to surrender the Chagos Islands. No one thinking seriously about Britain’s national security would even consider paying £35 billion to give away a crucial UK-US Defence base.
But Labour aren’t thinking seriously. They are doing the things you end up doing when you come into government with no plan, and no vision for the country. You get pulled around by lobby groups and end up spending vital parliamentary time harming Britain’s national interest.
On Monday the Conservatives will lead the charge against this Bill in Parliament, just like we have with so many of Labour’s terrible ideas.
But if we’re going to secure yet another U-turn, we will need Labour MPs to examine their consciences.
Britain is living through serious times. Times that require not just government but every MP to start putting Britain’s national interest first.
We are facing existential threats at home and abroad – threats that require tough decisions and honesty about the trade-offs involved. We cannot afford to spend the next three years being led down foolish paths by a government without a plan.
But if we are going to stop that we need our politics to get serious. It does not help Britain that the Greens want to scrap our nuclear deterrent and Reform blame Nato for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Only the Conservative Party under my leadership is standing up for Britain’s national interest. It’s time for others to back us.
