Armed Forces covenant must be backed up with money (From Wimbledon Guardian)
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Letter to the Editor: Armed forces covenant must be backed up with money
8:00am Thursday 30th August 2012 in Your Neighbourhood - Merton
Jeanette Townley; St Helier Avenue, Morden
As a former member of Her Majesty’s Forces, and mother of a son who has completed two tours of Afghanistan (and likely to go a third time), I, along with Councillors Debbie Shears and Samantha George , would like to see formal adoption of the military covenant.
But I wonder at the motive here. Is it genuine concern for the military community or further attempt to score political points via our local paper?
The reality is that positive change cannot come about by promotional statements and/or out of thin air.
If the coalition government and its supporters (which Councillors Shears and George no doubt are) want the covenant to have real impact, they need to back it with extra finance, rather than expecting miracles from savagely depleted public funds.
Please campaign for the military community but do it in a way that shows humility, and also a common sense approach to the reality of what is achievable from a reducing budget from central government.
The coalition is slaughtering public finance and local councils are overstretched as it is, already trying to protect its vulnerable citizens.
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