Bill Carmichael: Penny pinching that costs lives

It can be put simply as follows; our soldiers, sailors and air crews risk – and sometimes sacrifice – their lives to keep us safe from harm, and, in return, we will properly fund, train and equip them to carry out the difficult and dangerous job they have been asked to do.

One thing that has become abundantly clear during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan is that this pact has broken down – because of the penny-pinching attitude towards defence spending by the Labour Government, and, in particular, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

This week, the Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner David Masters recorded verdicts of unlawful killing on Corporal Sarah Bryant, 26, the first female casualty in Afghanistan, and three special forces comrades, Cpl Sean Reeve, L/Cpl Richard Larkin, and Trooper Paul Stout, who were killed by a roadside bomb in June 2008.

The six-day inquest heard a string of damning criticisms over equipment and training. For example, the soldiers had not been shown how to use the metal detectors, which might have warned them a bomb was nearby, because of a shortage of equipment back in the UK. Also, the lightly-armed Snatch Land Rovers – nicknamed "mobile coffins" by soldiers forced to use them – were totally unsuited to patrol hostile areas and offered inadequate protection against roadside bombs.

Mr Masters was so appalled by the evidence he heard that he pledged to raise his concerns with the Ministry of Defence at the end of the inquest. A fat lot of good that will do him, because members of the Government are in full-scale denial.

Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammel admitted training was "not as good as it should have been", but then went on to claim that things have changed now and everything is tickety-boo.

Even if that is true, I'm not sure it is much comfort to the loved ones of the soldiers who died because of Government failings.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister told the Chilcot Inquiry that all demands from the Armed Forces for equipment had been met – a claim that has been contradicted by two former chiefs of the defence staff, Lord Guthrie and General Sir Richard Dannatt.

So who are you going to believe – a politician on the ropes or two senior officers with no axe to grind?

It would seem the families of the soldiers have no doubt who is telling the truth.

After the inquest, the parents of Trooper Stout said there "must be lessons learned from this terrible tragedy". The soldiers "would still be alive today if they had the right equipment and proper full training," they said.

There can be no more damning indictment of government failings to give our Armed Forces the proper support they need.

Brown is happy to spend cash on his pet projects – such as the ludicrously complex and wasteful tax credits system, but not where it is desperately needed.

He should hang his head in shame.

Wanted: a sole mate

I'M afraid I laughed like a drain over the story of the one-legged man from Barnsley who stole a trainer from a sports shop when it refused to sell him just one shoe.

Phil Moore helped himself to a size nine from a display stand and then tried to escape on his crutches – but, unsurprisingly, was quickly caught and prosecuted "as he was about to hop on a bus", according to reports.

He lost his left leg to septicaemia seven years ago and complained that he was forced to fork out for a complete pair of shoes only to have to throw the left one away.

The answer to his troubles seems simple – all he has to do is find another one-legged man, with the same shoe size, who has had his right leg amputated.

Then they can split the cost of a pair of shoes and have one each.