Sue Farrant as a Serving Officer
West Dorset Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, Dr Sue Farrant is part of the Liberal Democrat campaign to pay servicemen an extra £6,000 per year.
Sue Farrant is backing Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader in launching ‘Don’t short change our troops: Fair pay for the armed forces’.
Many soldiers fighting on the front line are on salaries lower than those of trainee police and fire fighters. Clegg says that 13,000 members of the armed forces take home less than £17,000 each year. Clegg has also said that “Under Labour, our lions are being paid peanuts. Our servicemen are being sent to fight in treacherous conditions in Afghanistan while living close to the poverty line. It is time to stop short-changing our troops”.
The money for this initiative will be sourced from cutting 10,000 unnecessary pen pushers from inside the MOD and putting the money into more useful areas.
Sue Farrant, a former army captain, says, “We expect our soldiers, sailors and airman to be prepared to put their lives at risk and to be separated from their loved ones for long periods of time. Giving them a decent level of basic pay is only fair. And it will save money in the long run by reducing the numbers of highly-trained personnel who leave the service every year.”
As part of the Liberal Democrats ongoing support for our troops Sue Farrant is leading the local party in collecting items for Comfort Boxes to send to our troops in Afghanistan. To donate items or for more information please call the constituency office on 01935 815947.
