Quality | 2009.11.14
Battered Brown to give help to army families
PM to offer housing aid and job training in bid to win support over Afghan war
Gordon Brown has ordered a series of new measures to help military families get on the housing ladder and find jobs amid growing fears that the loss of public support for the war in Afghanistan could spread to the forces community.
In an unprecedented move that reflects deepening anxiety in government about low morale among soldiers\' relatives, the prime minister has invited 80 members of forces families, including wives and grandparents of serving soldiers, to Downing Street this week for a private reception to discuss their concerns.
The meeting on Thursday will coincide with an announcement by defence secretary Bob Ainsworth and leader of the house Harriet Harman of government action to help them gain better access to childcare, training and education and to help them search for work. Ministers will also announce within weeks a new "shared equity" scheme to help forces families buy their own homes. Unlike other shared equity projects, the forces families will be able to switch the equity to other properties as they are transferred from base to base. Initially ministers will pledge £20m with a guarantee to extend the scheme if it were to prove popular.
The moves coincide with plunging public support for the military campaign and a round of fresh attacks from senior military figures, who yesterday even accused Brown of handing the Taliban a key tactical advantage against British forces. Former chief of the defence staff General Lord Guthrie said the prime minister\'s "dithering" over whether to send an extra 500 troops to Afghanistan had in effect bolstered the enemy.
"The longer we dither the more the Taliban get the advantage. The people of Afghanistan are going to begin to wonder just how serious we are," said Guthrie.
Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said the Taliban and al-Qaida had been given "encouragement" by the delays in sending reinforcements to Helmand.
Last night a poll for the Independent on Sunday revealed 71% of the public would back a phased withdrawal leading to an end of combat operations within 12 months, against 22% who disagreed.
The red carpet treatment for military families follows a week in which Brown had been accused by the mother of Jamie Janes, a 20-year-old Guardsman killed in Afghanistan, of showing disrespect by misspelling her son\'s name in a handwritten letter of condolence.
When the prime minister rang Mrs Janes to apologise, she attacked him for having repeatedly blocked more funding for the military, including equipment for soldiers on the front line.
Ministers are worried that if criticism of the government, and the war, were voiced by military families regularly, public support would collapse. Yesterday the first signs of cabinet unease over the government\'s failure to sell the Afghanistan mission surfaced when Welsh secretary Peter Hain called for ministers to be clearer about its strategy. "We need to get a grip on it," he said.
In an interview with the Observer , Harman, who is also minister for women and equality, said military wives needed particular help. "The army wives have to move around the country. They are often miles away from their family and they often are spending a lot of time on their own. We want to make sure that they have the same opportunities for work and training, that are made more difficult by them moving around."
But shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said the government action looked like a "cynical manoeuvre" in the run-up to a general election.
In a sign of increasing discontent, the federations representing service families have sent a letter to armed forces minister Kevan Jones complaining about the withdrawal of childcare vouchers, which they say are vital in helping military wives get back to work.
Brown had been due to attend the Downing Street reception but has asked his wife Sarah to do so as he has to attend a special summit in Brussels to choose the first permanent president of the European Council. , will attempt to shore up support for the Afghanistan campaign during his address at the lord mayor\'s banquet.
Among the measures to be announced on Thursday is a move by work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper to help ensure that forces families have better access to job centres, childcare, transport and better advice on school places.
Jones, under-secretary of state for defence, said: "Support for families is support for those on the front line. If soldiers know that their families are looked after, then that is vital for them in the crucial role they perform."
US president Barack Obama is expected this week to reveal an extra surge of thousands – possibly up to 30,000 – more troops to Afghanistan.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/15/brown-army-homes-help
