It is almost two years since I had the honour to introduce a similar Adjournment Debate. I am delighted to be able to participate in this debate by kind permission of the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris) and my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces. I am delighted also that there is a great deal more interest in the subject on this occasion. No fewer than 36 right hon. and hon. Members are in their places, including my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Defence and for Northern Ireland. It is clear that the matter is attracting considerable interest. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister expressed her concern as early as 1983. She said: I do very much share your concern for our war widows; they are indeed a very special group. We must ensure that everyone who knows about the issue presses for proper justice.

I have said before that no service person goes into a recruiting office with his solicitor. It is useless, therefore to talk about changed conditions of service. The right hon. Member for Wythenshawe has explained that a prime anomaly in the pension scheme no longer exists. It is possible now to opt out of the scheme and still be entitled to benefit if one is killed in action.

We should not pretend that parity would lead to the expenditure of £600 million a year; it would be about £160 million or less. The war widows are a special case, and we have been assured by the war disabled that they do not wish to ride on the coat-tails of the widows. They consider that these women have suffered severely as a result of being without their husbands for so many years, sometimes for 50 years or even longer. They have had to go through life without the essential support of a partner that so many others have enjoyed. In the evening of their lives they have to pay heavily for everything to be done for them. Every time a washer has to be changed, for example, or any other small job at home has to be done, they have to rely upon outside labour. Of course, that is a heavy burden. The very least we owe them is the dignity in their last few years of not having to worry always about the money that that costs. The Officers Pensions Society, under the leadership of Admiral Sir Peter White and direction of Major General Laurie Gingell, has brought the issue very much into the open in recent weeks. The forces sweetheart, Dame Vera Lynn, has also done her bit. Now that so many more people realise exactly what is involved, I am sure that they will appreciate that service personnel give their all in the service of their country without any thought of their own safety. We in turn owe them a great debt. When they were called upon to lay down their lives on our behalf, I think that they expected us to do the just and honourable thing. I hope that that is what we shall do very soon.