Court ruling damning indictment of Labour's military equipment shortages says Sam Potts

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 11th Apr 2008

with no body armor, is an unforgivable and disgraceful situation, which this Labour government is personally and politically responsible for.

Commenting on today's High Court ruling that sending soldiers into operations with faulty equipment could breach their human rights, Cllr Sam Potts said:

"This shattering ruling for Des Browne will hopefully at last wake the Labour Government up to equipment shortages on the front line which threaten the lives of our troops.

"That a judge feels he must even raise the issue of soldiers' human rights is a damning indictment of all the avoidable deaths that have occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan due to faulty or unavailable kit.

"We are not talking about a lack of the most expensive, high-end equipment. In many cases lives are being lost over penny-pinching.

"The Court has also rightly slapped down the MoD's attempts to gag coroners when they give their verdicts on armed forces deaths."

ENDS