We can all do our bit

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

At the beginning of the year, Labour’s PPC for Aldershot, Jonathan Slater, wrote on LabourList, urging all Labour MPs and parliamentary candidates to sign up to the British Legion’s “It’s time to do your bit” campaign”.

The campaign calls on all potential members of the next parliament to commit to supporting the healthcare, housing, educational and welfare needs of our armed forces personnel and their families through the Legion’s manifesto.

As an ad in the new edition of the New Statesman this week highlights, the Legion has managed to get all three main party leaders to pledge to do their bit, and have also gained the support of a good proportion of sitting MPs from across the parties.

As you can see, Labour’s MPs are in third place. Many of those who have not yet signed could be amongst the 80 or so Labour MPs retiring at the general election – but that still leaves a high number who have yet to sign the pledge. Plus, there are still more PPCs to sign up.

Bob Ainsworth’s done his bit. He recently wrote to all Labour MPs and PPCs, asking that they get on board with the campaign. Ainsworth wrote:

“The British Legion does great work for our armed forces: our serving personnel, our veterans and their families. They have published a ‘manifesto’ which adds to that work and are asking candidates of all parties to sign up in support of their aims. While the Labour Party’s general election manifesto will be rightly determined by our policy-making process, and the party may not endorse every policy that the RBL calls for, I encourage all Labour candidates to sign up.”

If you’re an MP or candidate in the election, you can join the PM and defence secretary in signing the pledge by clicking here. If, like me, you’re a humble activist – or even if you’re just passing through – you can sign up to the petition or lobby your representatives to get on board.

Let’s bump up Labour’s numbers, and more importantly let’s help make sure all politicians are committed to supporting the forces in deed as well as words.