Councillor Lindsay Whittle, Plaid Cymru’s Parliamentary Candidate for Caerffili has hit out after it was revealed that MPs can be awarded medals for spending a short amount of time in war zones.
It recently emerged that MPs have been awarded special medals for 10 years or more membership of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme (AFPS), which allows politicians to spend around 22 days a year with the military.
Councillor Whittle, who is the leader of Plaid-led Caerffili council, said: “To reward an MP for visiting a war zone or going on trips with the military with a medal is a joke. It is also an insult to all those troops who genuinely deserve a medal for their service. Medals should be granted to people who have done something to deserve them. I don’t see what these MPs have done to deserve a medal just because they are members of the AFPS.
Councillor Whittle spent five days visiting Afghanistan last year as a guest of SaBRE – Supporting Britain’s Reservists and Employers – and attended a memorial service for a dead soldier at Camp Bastion soon after arriving in the war-torn country.
The Plaid candidate said that he supported the move by former soldier and fellow Plaid councillor Paul James of Ceredigion Council to halt the practice.
