Have the Tories done enough for veterans?

The Conservative party is returning to defence and security for another election pitch and has unveiled a series of measures to support armed forces veterans. The proposals include a Veterans’ Bill enshrining rights, cheaper railcards for former service personnel and tax allowances for those who employ them. Taken with a plan to introduce a form of national service and Labour’s performative commitment to renewing the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent, it is making the election campaign more defence focused than anything we have seen since the 1980s.

A few weeks after the general election, the Office for Veterans’ Affairs will celebrate its fifth anniversary. It was set up in the first days of Boris Johnson’s premiership as a unit in the Cabinet Office, staffed by officials there and from the Ministry of Defence, and entrusted to the ministerial leadership of former army officer Johnny Mercer.