Alexander 'does his bit' to honour the military covenant

4-Feb-2010

Highland MP Danny Alexander has joined other parliamentarians at an event in the House of Commons to pledge their support for the British Legion's campaign to improve the welfare of serving personnel, veterans and their families.

The Royal British Legion recently published their general election manifesto which included plans to ensure service families stay together and pledged extra medical and financial support for veterans and injured servicemen. Alongside this the Legion is running the ‘time to do your bit' campaign, which calls on both politicians and members of the public to join them in defence of our defenders and ensure the military covenant is honoured.

The military covenant is a mutual obligation between the nation, the Army and each individual soldier: an expectation of personal sacrifice in return for fair treatment and respect. The Liberal Democrats stand fully behind the military covenant and last year Nick Clegg launched the Don't Short Change Our Troops: Fair Pay for Our Armed Forces campaign.

Speaking after the event, Danny Alexander said:

"I am delighted to make the pledge to ‘do our bit' for this country's armed forces. It is an honour to support this campaign.

"As I know from the wonderful work done through its local organisations in the Highlands, the Royal British Legion does a great service in standing up for our troops and for the military covenant. They are right to say that provision of support and welfare for our armed forces should be automatic.

"It is impossible to put a price on the sacrifices our troops make in operations such as Iraq and Afghanistan - and in the many other operations in which Highland veterans have played such a distinguished part. The least the country can do is to ensure that those people have proper access to the support and services they need, not just when they leave the service but through the rest of their lives.

"We must ensure that our currently serving personnel, our veterans and the families of both are properly honoured. They must receive the pay, the housing and the healthcare that they badly need and richly deserve."

ENDS