More homes for heroes as Michael Fallon pledges to extend military housing scheme but Labour says it is ‘smokescreen’
Defence Secretary said the Help to Buy scheme for our service personnel will run until 2018
OUR war heroes will find it easier to buy homes thanks to the Government extending a housing scheme – but the move has been slated as a “smokescreen” by Labour.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the Help to Buy scheme for service personnel will run until 2018, with thousands of applications approved since a three-year pilot project started in 2014.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) says more than £127 million has been paid to around 8,300 military personnel so far, adding the total of approved applications stands at 10,584.
At the Conservative Party conference today he said: “And look at how we help service personnel buy their own homes.
“Last year I told you I wanted our Forces’ Help to Buy scheme to help 10,000 personnel and we’re meeting that target.
“But I want more people to benefit so I am extending the scheme until 2018.
“More homes for heroes.
“We aren’t just helping servicemen and women get on the housing ladder.
“We are selling MOD land we don’t need to build the homes we do.”
Tomorrow Michael Fallon will go to Barrow to cut steel on the first new Successor Trident submarine
Cabinet minister Sir Michael also claimed the armed forces can be a "remarkable engine of social mobility" as he reiterated his desire for 50,000 military apprenticeships from 2015 to 2020, and announced 150 new cadet units in state schools.
He pointed to Rockwood Academy in Birmingham - formerly known as Park View - as being among the first 25 schools to have new cadet forces, noting it was at the centre of anonymous allegations which claimed there was a plot by Muslim hard-liners to take control of several of the city's schools.
Speaking about the cadet scheme and Rockwood Academy he said: "This used to be a 'Trojan Horse' school.
"It has been turned around completely and instead of promoting religious segregation, today, as a new academy, it is instilling British values with a school cadet unit that will parade this afternoon, serving the Queen and country."
Sir Michael also said he will officially mark the start of construction work on the Successor submarines that carry the controversial Trident missiles on Wednesday.
Renewal of the continuous-at-sea deterrent is predicted to cost £31 billion, with a £10 billion contingency fund also set aside.
Sir Michael told delegates: "Tomorrow I will go from here to Barrow to cut steel on the first new Successor Trident submarine - a billion pound investment programme that will benefit businesses from Barrow to Berkshire, from the north of Scotland to Tyneside.
"And what a contrast with the Labour Party - while we're getting on with the Successor programme, they can't even agree on a successor to Jeremy Corbyn."
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His speech received rapturous applause in the hall but, in response to the speech, Shadow Defence Secretary Clive Lewis said: “Michael Fallon’s speech was a smokescreen, designed to deflect from the Tories legacy of failure on defence.
"The reality is their devastating cuts since 2010 have weakened and demoralised our Armed Forces, leaving them poorly-equipped, over-stretched, under-paid and too often living in squalid conditions.
“The Tory obsession with cost-cutting means they are not even using British steel to build our ships and vehicles.
"They have systematically undermined our industrial communities, ripping up Labour’s Defence Industrial Strategy and spending billions overseas, instead of investing in British jobs and British steel.
“For Labour, our Armed Forces personnel and veterans will always come first.
"We will tackle the decline of wages and pensions, the decay of on-base housing and the shocking lack of support for veterans.
“And we will always ensure the defence of the realm, by meeting NATO’s spending target of at least 2 per cent of GDP of defence, as every Labour government since Attlee has done.
"Our ongoing open, strategic defence review will ensure we are equipped for the challenges of the future.”