Armed Forces (Pensions and Compensation) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:30 pm on 15 September 2004.

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Photo of Lord Morris of Manchester Lord Morris of Manchester Labour 2:30, 15 September 2004

My Lords, I entirely understand the concern that underlies my noble friend's amendment. He has made a strong case for it and I am sure noble Lords across the House will see its importance. It was in the context of his case for the amendment that my noble friend referred back to the debate on Report on the burden and the standard of proof and referred to me in doing so.

I can assure him that the Royal British Legion will be responding, point by point and in full detail, to charges made by my noble friend Lord Bach in his reply to the debate on my amendment to the Bill—so emphatically carried by noble Lords of all parties and groups in this House—to retain the safeguard vouchsafed for service men and women left in broken health, and the bereaved families of those who give their lives in our service, by a burden of proof based on reasonable doubt.

Meanwhile the legion totally repudiates and deeply resents any suggestion, implied or explicit, that I in any way misreported or misrepresented its position on an issue to which the whole ex-service community attaches the highest importance.

For now, the legion notes that the Government's stance on the burden and standard of proof is exactly as it was when this Bill was first presented to Parliament, notwithstanding all that has been said by the ex-service community.

Confirmation of this was elicited by a brilliantly well-timed question from my friend the noble and learned Lord, Lord Ackner, at the end of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary's reply to the debate on my amendment. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Ackner, asked,

"before the noble Lord sits down, could he explain on whom the onus of proof lies in his proposals? I am not concerned with the standard. The claimant brings a claim: is the onus of proof on him to establish the situation or is it on the MoD?", to which my noble friend Lord Bach replied,

"under the new scheme the onus would be on the claimant but obviously on the balance of probabilities".—[Hansard, 8/9/04; col. 588.]

They were his final words in the debate, making it utterly clear that the MoD's stance had remained throughout exactly as it was at the outset, showing them to have been totally impervious to all suggestions for change whether from the legion, the Defence Committee of the House of Commons or anyone else. What has changed is the Bill itself and the legion is most grateful, as it has publicly stated, to everyone here who helped to bring that about on 8 September.