PERSONS SUBJECT TO MILITARY LAW: GIBRALTAR (Hansard, 9 May 1996)

§ Mr. Michael Colvin (Romsey and Waterside)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
After the seriousness and the passion of the previous debate, hon. Members may feel that the matter to which new clause 7 refers is of little consequence. However, it is important to hon. Members who take an interest in Gibraltar and to the people of the Rock and it must be resolved. The issue relates to the powers of command of officers in the Gibraltar Regiment—specifically, their powers to discipline British soldiers who are on secondment to the Gibraltar Regiment.
I shall be brief, as I know that many hon. Members wish to speak to the next new clause. I think that it is important to give the House some background information about the Gibraltar Regiment which, following the rundown of British troops stationed in Gibraltar, is now the only resident battalion on the Rock. Its primary role is to oversee the security of the territory and its military installations, but it also has administrative responsibilities and ceremonial duties.
The regiment has its roots in the Gibraltar volunteer corps of the first world war, which was spontaneously formed by the people of Gibraltar. It developed directly from the Gibraltar defence force—a territorial unit of volunteers, which was raised in April 1939. The unit later trained national service men and became the Gibraltar Regiment, with its own commanding officer, in 1958.
The Gibraltar Regiment appears in the Army List as an integral part of the British Army. It is funded and trained by the Ministry of Defence to the same standard as any British infantry regiment. Its officers hold Governor's commissions and are trained on a par with United Kingdom officers who hold Queen's commissions. A number of the officers have served, and continue to serve, in attachments to United Kingdom regiments and at Army headquarters. Some served recently with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and United Nations forces in the former Yugoslavia.
Inspecting officers consider the training, standard and efficiency of the Gibraltar Regiment to be as high as equivalent United Kingdom regiments. That is also the view of the Defence Committee, which visited the Rock recently, and Ministers who have inspected the force. The regiment conducts training in the United Kingdom every year and during that time United Kingdom regiments take over its duties in Gibraltar.
Ever since the Gibraltar defence force was raised in 1939, soldiers from United Kingdom regiments and corps have been seconded or attached to the unit. However, in 1990 it was discovered that the commanding officer of the Gibraltar Regiment has no powers of command over personnel from United Kingdom regiments or corps who are attached or seconded to that regiment. The present position is resented and I believe that it is prejudicial to good military discipline. For example, a warrant officer who was attached to the Gibraltar Regiment was returned to the United Kingdom because it was not possible to discipline him in Gibraltar.
The anomaly has been patched up by appointing, in parallel with the commanding officer of the Gibraltar Regiment, an officer of the United Kingdom forces who 479 is attached to the regiment or who serves in British forces headquarters. He acts as commanding officer for disciplinary purposes for United Kingdom soldiers who are attached to the regiment. That highly unsatisfactory stop-gap arrangement belittles the position of the regiment's commanding officer as it divides his command into two categories of soldiers: those over whom he can exercise full authority and those over whom he has no disciplinary powers. Notwithstanding that fact, the two categories are equally subject to the Army Act 1955. Obviously, it is not a sound way of exercising command in any British regiment.
The Defence Committee visited the Rock last October, when the matter was drawn to our attention not only by the Gibraltar Regiment but by the commander of British forces and by the Speaker of the House of Assembly, the Hon. Colonel Bob Peliza, who is the honorary colonel of the Gibraltar Regiment. I wrote to my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, drawing his attention to the fact that the commanding officer of the Gibraltar Regiment does not have that power of command and that any British officer who is seconded to it cannot be disciplined by that regiment and must be either dealt with by the commander of British forces in Gibraltar or flown back to the United Kingdom for disciplinary action.
My hon. Friend replied to my letter, as did the Secretary of State for Defence, who acknowledged the existing anomaly. I wish to put on record my hon. Friend's response: As you say, the Commanding Officer of the Gibraltar Regiment at present has no formal disciplinary powers over a soldier of the British Army seconded to it. The MOD's legal advisers are in the process of determining the most efficient legislative means to rectify this situation. I can assure you that this is proceeding as a matter of priority but the case of the Gibraltar Regiment is inextricably linked to wider legal questions concerning powers of command. These are complex issues of considerable importance which are likely to take some time to resolve. The letter is dated 30 November last year. The issue has been outstanding since 1990 and, although it may be linked inextricably to other questions, the learned legal advisers should by now have found some legal formula to resolve the problem. If it is not resolved in this legislation, it will probably be five years before it is considered again. That is a good reason for setting the ball rolling this evening with new clause 7.
If the substance of the new clause is accepted, it will end an anomaly that has been detrimental to good order and military discipline in a regiment of Her Majesty's forces for five years. If we do nothing, it will continue to have that effect for another five years. I believe that we have a responsibility to put the matter right once and for all. That is the wish of the Army commanders who are directly responsible for the discipline and the proficiency of the Gibraltar Regiment, such as the commander of the British forces in Gibraltar and the director of infantry. Incidentally, it is also the view of Army Legal Services, which has urged action on that essentially purely legal technicality for five years.
My hon. Friend the Minister is a man of honour and I know that he will keep his word. He has said that he is dealing with the problem as a matter of urgency and I trust that this evening he will either support the new clause or 480 give a firm undertaking that the Government will bring forward their own amendments in another place to address that long-standing difficulty.

§ Mr. Soames
I am grateful for the chance to reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Waterside (Mr. Colvin) and for our exchange of correspondence. I hope that he accepts that I replied in good faith, and I am happy to elaborate on my comments now.
The new clause seeks to place members of the United Kingdom forces who are attached to the Gibraltar Regiment under the command of the regiment's commanding officer for disciplinary purposes. That may seem logical at first sight, but to accept the new clause would run counter to the established practice of not allowing non-United Kingdom officers to have disciplinary powers over British troops—I know that my hon. Friend understands that definition.
I should explain that the commanding officer of the Gibraltar Regiment could be either a British officer or an officer of the regiment. In the latter case, the commanding officer would hold a Governor's commission rather than a Queen's commission. The current practice is that when the commanding officer is a member of the United Kingdom Regular forces, he has command over members of the UK Regular forces who are attached to the regiment, as well as over members of the colonial force. However, when the commanding officer is a member of the colonial force, disciplinary command over UK Regular Army personnel is vested in an officer on the staff of the headquarters in Gibraltar who holds a Regular Army land forces commission.
We want that practice to continue so that members of the UK Regular forces are under the disciplinary control of other members of the Regular forces, which will prevent them from potentially facing trial by a court martial composed of members of the colonial force or facing summary disposal by a person who is not a holder of the Queen's commission.
In acknowledging the espousal by my hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Waterside of an issue that I know is dear to many people in Gibraltar, I am bound to tell him, I am afraid, that his new clause is unacceptable to the Government. However, the Government are actively considering the wider question of the status of the Gibraltar Regiment. If, as a result of that consideration, it is decided to alter that status and to make the regiment part of the UK Regular forces, disciplinary matters such as the issue that prompted my hon. Friend's new clause will fall into line.
I hope that my hon. Friend will be persuaded to withdraw his new clause. If not, I must ask the Committee to reject it.

§ Mr. Colvin
In the light of what my hon. Friend the Minister said, which has opened up a completely fresh debate about the future status of the Gibraltar Regiment, which I trust that the House will not embark on today, I shall withdraw the motion.
I ask my hon. Friend to proceed with caution down the path that he has embarked upon and to engage in the widest possible consultation—not only in Gibraltar, but in this country—about the possible changed status of the Gibraltar Regiment. I do not think that such changes 481 should be embarked upon without full consultation and without taking into account the views of the people of Gibraltar.
I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion.