SNP Manifesto 2019

STRONGER FOR SCOTLAND
SNP MPs will continue to press the UK government
to give our armed forces a representative staff
body to speak up for the interests of members.
A representative body on a statutory footing
could help affirm the rights and status of military
personnel as employees, while also assisting in
terms of pay and conditions negotiations, and
as an investigative body for widespread concerns
or issues.
SNP MPs will continue to call for Commonwealth
personnel in the UK armed forces and their families
to receive indefinite right to remain during and after
service in the UK military.
We believe that veterans are an asset to our
society, and we urge the UK government to do
everything it can to honour the sacrifice of those
who risk their lives for the defence and security
of our country. The SNP will press the Ministry
of Defence to use vacant MoD homes to house
homeless ex-servicemen.
Munitions
SNP MPs have led the way in challenging the UK
Government’s indefensible and unethical arms
export policy, which sees billions of pounds worth
of weapons being traded with serial human
rights violators.
We will continue to urge the UK government to
immediately halt all military support and arms sales
to regimes guilty of violations of human rights and
international humanitarian law. SNP MPs will never
accept the use of lethal autonomous weapons –
this is immoral and must be banned under
international law.
And, here at home, the SNP will press the Ministry of
Defence to take responsibility for the environmental
impact of military munitions as a polluter. There is
no such thing as acceptable environmental damage,
and no department of government should have an
environmental ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’.
In 2012, HM Treasury announced that the proceeds
from LIBOR fines would be used to support
Armed Forces and Emergency Services charities.
Since then, the LIBOR grant scheme has closed,
threatening the funding good causes rely on. SNP
MPs will call for the UK Government to make good
this funding from other sources.
To provide practical support for veterans requiring
social care, the SNP Scottish Government changed
the rules to ensure the War Disablement Pension is
exempt from the assessment of income, meaning
our veterans get the help they need and keep the
full value of this pension. SNP MPs will press the UK
government to adopt this approach across all social
security benefits.
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