Local MP Norman Baker has backed new plans to increase lowest-paid soldiers' pay by £6,000 per year.
The proposals, released today by the Lib Dems, would mean that lowest-paid troops would receive £22,680. Privates and lance corporals would receive an additional £3,000 per year, meaning the average pay across these ranks would rise to around £25,000 per year, and higher NCO ranks would receive an extra £1,000 per year.
This would mean that no service personnel in the Army, Navy or RAF would receive less basic annual pay than a new-entrant police constable or development-level firefighter.
Norman Baker commented:
"It is clear that pay levels for our lowest-paid troops are nowhere near good enough. Those who make enormous sacrifices on our behalf, and who are prepared to die for this country, deserve to be treated far better.
"I am pleased to back the Lib Dems' proposals, which would ensure that no soldier, sailor or airman goes into harm's way on less basic pay than a new recruit to the police or fire service. Many of our lowest-paid privates are fighting on the front line, and they deserve better than they are currently receiving.
"These increases can be afforded with only a fraction of the sum wasted by the MoD on bloated bureaucracy, bungled procurement projects and an outdated Cold War missile defence system. The government must think about its priorities and improve conditions for our brave soldiers as soon as possible."
1. Lib Dem proposals on Forces' pay:
The lowest paid personnel would receive an increase of £6000 - placing them on £22,680 and an equal footing with a development-level fire-fighter or new-entrant police constable. (The basic pay for the lowest paid Private is currently £16,681).
There would be an average annual pay increase of over £3,000 for Privates and Lance Corporals, and around £1,000 for higher NCO ranks.
Under our proposals no service personnel would receive less basic annual pay than a new-entrant police constable or development-level fire-fighter.
A fully-trained Private would receive an average basic hourly wage of £9.44 up from the current £6.74 per hour, amounting to £430 per week; this is an extra £115 a week.
The average basic pay across the ranks of Private and Lance Corporal would rise to around £25,000. This means an average basic hourly wage of £10.40 an hour up from current £8.80 per hour, amounting to £480 per week; this is an extra £73 a week.
Other Non-Commissioned Officers would receive pay rises of £20-30 per week, or around £1,000 per year, depending on rank.
2. Paying for the Policy:
Cost: around £300-400million or 1% of the MoD's total budget.
At the moment there is one MoD desk job for every two servicemen. We believe the ratio should be reduced, particularly as so many desk jobs in the MoD are already done by serving officers. Other countries with similar sized militaries have much smaller ratio.
The Defence budget and Department itself are in such chaos that there the next Strategic Defence Review will have to make tough choices. Now is the opportunity to ensure that pay levels are not compromised or salami-sliced further.
Therefore savings can be achieved through a headcount reduction in MOD staff of around 10% (around 10,000) through:
MoD Waste and the Price of Paying our Soldiers:
In MoD waste and bungling terms the pay of all Privates and Lance Corporals could rise to levels proposed for the price of:
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Contact Norman at:
Norman Baker,
23 East Street,
Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
Tel: (01273) 480281.
Fax: (01273) 480287.
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