NI Conservatives’ spokesman and commissioned Major in the Royal and Mechanical Engineers, Mark Brotherston, has welcomed Lord Ashcroft’s report into conditions for veterans who have left military service.
“Part of Lord Ashcroft’s wide-ranging review considered problems particular to veterans from Northern Ireland”, Mark, who also chairs the charity NI Veterans’s Support, explained. “The Military Covenant protects members of the armed forces from being disadvantaged due to their service, in the rest of the UK, but it does not operate here, which means veterans struggle to get housing or employment after being decommissioned. It’s really positive that Lord Ashcroft is taking on this issue head on by recommending that Westminster legislates to protect former soldiers in Northern Ireland.”
“I’ll be meeting with Conservative colleagues at Westminster to discuss how this report can be taken forward. As a soldier myself and through the charity, I’m acutely aware of the difficulties which many of my former colleagues experience. In effect, they suffer discrimination, because of complications with getting on housing waiting lists and other issues. Lord Ashcroft’s report is welcome progress and I’ll be campaigning to ensure that a resolution to the Military Covenant issue is reached as soon as possible.”