I have just returned from a visit to Afghanistan with Ed Miliband MP and Douglas Alexander MP during which time we met with the remarkable and inspiring troops taking on the Taliban and training the Afghan Army. We also held meetings with President Karzai and other politicians to discuss the upcoming withdrawal of ISAF troops.
Whilst in Afghanistan we heard first hand some of the unfair treatment that the Armed Forces had experienced both at home and abroad.
It is totally unacceptable that elements of the Armed Forces community today face discrimination.
On Monday Labour launched a campaign calling for urgent cross party talks to end discrimination against our Armed Forces. A recent poll showed that 18% of Forces had been refused service in hotels, pubs or elsewhere and one in five had received abuse in the street when in uniform.
No one should suffer as a result of their service.
Ending discrimination against the service community is an issue around which I hope all parties and the country can unite. Our first step is to make sure that thousands of people won't stand for anything less. Please sign up & tweet support for the campaign to end discrimination against our forces
here.
As Ed Miliband said whilst on the visit, the pride we feel in our Armed Forces and their families demands that we end any disadvantage they receive.
