Browne apologises over troop allowances row
Defence secretary Des Browne has apologised for unintentionally misleading MPs over a new system of allowances for British troops serving overseas.
He told the House of Commons in October that plans to merge several separate bonuses paid to soldiers serving away from home for long periods would “not take one penny away from anybody or from the armed forces”.
But a Ministry of Defence (MoD) briefing note from the director general of service personnel policy, Chris Baker, has emerged, which warns there would be a “few potential losers” from the change.
A further letter from Lt Col David Russell-Parsons, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, suggests more than 500 of his troops could lose £1,350 each from the reforms.
In a letter to the Commons speaker, Mr Brown said: “Having looked again at the complete answer I gave, I do not think it was misleading. If however any part of it gave a misleading impression, then it was unintentional, and obviously I am sorry.”
The news comes on the day of a highly critical report from the defence select committee, which warns British troops are under-resourced and stretched to the point that they may not be able to do their job properly.
Last night, shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said: “It is very clear that parliament, the public and the armed forces were all misled and are due an apology. The secretary of state promised there would be no losers when clearly he understood there would be.”
Conservative leader David Cameron repeated the claim during prime minister’s questions today, saying: “Given that there are going to be potential losers why did the defence secretary effectively give an inaccurate answer?”
Tony Blair appeared to acknowledge the mistake, saying: “It is not that [troops] will receive less money but it is that the money they were going to receive under the present allowance may be less than they thought they were going to get.”
But he insisted that most troops would benefit from the allowances changes and said the recently announced operational tax allowance of £2,200 a year for troops serving overseas would mean that everyone was better off at the end.
In a letter to the speaker of the House of Commons after the debate, Mr Brown admitted his comments may have been misleading but said he was “trying to correct a misunderstanding of the reform of the separation allowances”.
“These reforms were decided three years ago. I have reviewed them and sought assurances from the department that there is no reduction in the total amount of money for allowances for service personnel as a result,” he wrote.
“It is wrong to suggest, as Liam Fox did in his question, that these reforms were about cuts. They were about reforming an out of date system and making it fairer overall.”
He said he also wanted to correct the “entirely false link” between these reforms and the new operational bonus, saying there was “no question of the government giving with one hand and taking away with another”. The bonus was £60 million of new money, he said.
However, Mr Fox was unrepentant, saying Mr Browne’s comments were welcome but repeating his concern that the government was exercising a “sleight of hand”.
