General Election announced – a reminder of our priorities

Hannah Pearce is Director of Campaigns, Policy and Research for the Royal British Legion, and job shares the role with Angela Kitching. Their teams focus on understanding the needs of the Armed Forces Community, developing policy to meet those needs and lobbying decision-makers and campaigning to improve the lives of those in the Armed Forces community.

The Prime Minister took, it would appear, the entire country by surprise this week by calling a General Election for Thursday 4th July; received knowledge amongst pretty much everyone including, the Westminster media and the Conservative party, was that the election would be held in October or November.??

For the Royal British Legion, we were anticipating a frantic juggle in the Autumn as we tried to keep our election campaign communications away from the solemnity and significance of the Remembrance period. No such worries now. Instead, we, like hundreds of other charities and campaign groups, are accelerating our months-long communication plans into six short weeks.?

The Royal British Legion and Poppyscotland produced our Manifesto in Autumn 2023, in time for the political party conferences held last September and October. We knew an election was on the horizon and we were keen to talk to the parties and make sure that their policy teams were aware of the calls that we believe will make the most difference to improving the lives of the Armed Forces community.?

Our General Election Manifesto 2024 focuses on five key areas to better support the UK's Armed Forces Community:?

• Keep the Covenant Promise???
• Ask the Question?
• Credit their Service??
• Stop the Service Charge?
• Improve access to service for families?

We are also working on a longer and more detailed Programme for Government which sets out a wider set of policies which we would like the next government to adopt.?

We are pleased and grateful to the politicians and policymakers we have spoken to in recent months who have taken on board our ideas and criticisms, and we will of course look forward to working with which ever party or parties make up the next government.?

However, for the next six weeks the power tips over to us the voters. RBL will be doing its best to promote and share our Manifesto with the widest possible audience over the next six weeks. We know we have excellent connections into the Armed Forces community through our amazing members, beneficiaries, and supporters, but we also know that support for the Armed Forces community reaches far wider and that the entire country values the service and sacrifice of our Armed Forces.??

Our ambition is for as many voters as possible to challenge their parliamentary candidates to do more for our community, if they are privileged to be elected on 4th July.?

Join us in our General Election campaign, and help us make a real impact for our Armed Forces community.

Here are some of the ways you can get involved:??

• Read our General Election Manifesto 2024 in full, at: rbl.org.uk/Manifesto2024??
• Sign up to our Campaigner Community. You’ll receive regular updates on our Manifesto and other campaigns and can participate by emailing your local candidates and signing petitions to support our asks.??
• Talk to your local candidates about our Manifesto and ask them what their priorities are to improve the lives of the Armed Forces community. Ask them to commit to delivering on our calls if they are elected as your local MP on 4th July.?