Veterans in the UK have been failed repeatedly by the Government.

By repackaging old commitments as new announcements, the new ‘strategy’ published today once again does little to improve the lives of veterans and their families.

New employment opportunities are being touted as a headline commitment of the plan, but support is being cut.

Government have silently halved employment support in Jobcentres since the last strategy, slashing their Armed Forces Champions target from 100 to 50.

Mental health funding remains shockingly low.

Whilst the report re-announces £18 million in funding through NHS England for veteran health services over three years, Labour would boost veterans’ mental health support by £35 million.

Nothing has been provided to protect veterans’ housing organisations.

It is promising to see a commitment to ending veteran rough sleeping, but in the absence of funding, housing organisations have warned that existing services are at ‘significant risk of collapse’.

The action plan also claims to address ‘historic hurt’, but offers nothing concrete for nuclear veterans, or commonwealth veterans.

Labour would give our nuclear veterans the recognition they deserve and scrap extortionate visa fees for non-UK veterans.
Women’s experiences continue to take a back seat for the Government.

Having ignored vital recommendations from the ‘Women in the Armed Forces’ report earlier this year, yesterday’s plan contains no new commitments to help victims of bullying and sexual assault.

I am pleased that the Government have accepted Labour’s proposals for a review into the experience of LGBT veterans.
This review, which must look at providing compensation, could be a real chance to bring justice to those impacted by the pre-2000 LGBT ban.

The Government are out of touch with those on the ground.

Their strategy claims they have supported service charities since the last action plan, but 30% of charities are expecting to reduce services at a time when they are needed more than ever.

Overall, the plan lacks the substance to make meaningful change for our veterans.

Better support must be made available and should be consistent across the country.

If we can afford to send our military personnel into service, we can afford to support them when they return.

My full thread on Twitter, including links, can be found here: https://twitter.com/steph…/status/1483854005000364037….