MORE support should be given to Southampton’s armed forces personnel and veterans, a shadow cabinet minister has said.
Visiting Southampton, MP Luke Pollard raised concerns that serving personnel and their families are living in poor-quality housing. He met veterans in the city.
He also repeated calls for the government to issue veterans with IDs to help them gain easier access to services.
Speaking to the Echo, the MP said a third of all personnel in Hampshire are living in the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) lowest grade of service accommodation.
In total, 1,620 service men and women live in the lowest grade of housing, MoD data showed.
READ MORE: Only two per cent of Southampton veterans receive promised ID cards
He said: “Where defence families live is really important for morale. If you live in good accommodation morale goes up.
“But far too many of our troops and their families are living in poor quality accommodation where there’s black mould, leaky rooves, boilers that don’t work.
“Forty per cent of people that are in the services are dissatisfied with their accommodation.
“As we’re seeing more people leave our armed forces at a time when actually the threats to Britain are increasing because of Russian aggression, we need to be retaining more of those people.
“We will make improving defence accommodation a priority so we can give everyone a home fit for a hero.”
The Plymouth MP met with veterans and visited military equipment manufacturers in the city on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Southampton Veterans Trust given six months to leave building
It comes as data showed that as of December 6, 2022, only 133 promised veteran cards had been issued in Southampton, where 6,361 ex-servicemen and women live.
A Government spokesperson said: “We have already issued ID cards to all veterans who have left service since 2018 and are now aiming to extend access to the ID cards to those who left prior to 2018.
“All veterans have access to support services, including discounts, regardless of whether they have an ID card.”
They added that a new digital verification is due to be launched this year which is expected to be a “key step towards delivering phase two of the veterans ID card roll out”.
But Mr Pollard said: “The Government could roll this out faster if they chose to.
“There’s veterans everywhere in every community. Every single council now needs to be doing more now they know they’re there to reach out for them and enable the support for them.”
Deputy leader of Southampton City Council and parliamentary candidate for Southampton Itchen, Darren Paffey said “ID cards - and the support and the help that opens access to - is really important".
He said: “Four years on, the government should have done more to ensure veterans get those ID cards.”
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