Last Saturday, Pembrey Country Park became the centre of attention as it proudly hosted the Wales National Armed Forces Day celebrations.
Armed Forces Day is our chance to honour all those in the entire Armed Forces Community. Whether deployed, supporting from home or inspiring the next generation, they all play an important part in keeping us safe and secure.
At the last General Election I stood on a Labour manifesto that promised to renew the nation’s contract with those who serve. Our Armed Forces Bill delivers on that promise with better housing, better services and better protections for our forces and their families.
The Bill creates a new Defence Housing Service that puts forces and their families first, backed by a £9bn strategy to build, renew and repair tens of thousands of military homes. while kickstarting the development of 100,000 homes on surplus defence land, with personnel and veterans first in line.
The Armed Forces Covenant is the nation’s promise to deliver fairness for serving personnel, veterans, families and the bereaved. For the first time, this Labour government will extend the Armed Forces Covenant across all areas of government. This means social care, employment support and other public services will be legally required to fully consider the unique circumstances faced by forces personnel, veterans and their families,
All those who serve our country must be able to do so with dignity and respect. That’s why we’re improving support for victims and ensuring the Service Justice System can better protect those who experience the most serious offences.
The first duty of this nation is to keep its citizens safe – as threats grow, we must step up and take decisive action to boost preparedness in an era of ever-increasing threat.
My message to the Armed Forces community is clear: this government is on your side.