Our Troops, Fighting for democracy - yet unable to vote?

Angry is not the bloody word! As an ex-serviceman I cannot believe for one minute that it is not possible for every single one of our service men and women to vote if they so wish. We could fly out postal vote forms to them tomorrow - they could be returned within a week. That this has not been seen as a priority is an absolute sodding disgrace.

From the Times online:

Electoral law stipulates that postal votes cannot be issued until the close of nominations 11 days before election date. They must be returned to constituencies by the close of polling to be valid.

So what? Gordon Brown can fly out to Afghanistan and back in no time when he needs to cynically use our troops as a photo op backdrop. 11 Days is more than enough time to get the electoral vote forms out to the troops and back to their respective constituencies. Andrew Murrison, a shadow defence minister, said:

“The blame for the collapse in the number of service personnel registered to vote can be put at the government’s door.

“It is bizarre and wrong that soldiers who have put their lives on the line for Afghan democracy are left without a vote in their own homeland.”

Another Conservative MP, who has a large garrison town in his constituency, said: “Labour has made it harder and harder for soldiers to vote. It may be incompetence, but it could be knavery.”

It becomes clear why Labour are not sorting the mess out when you look at the results of a recent poll carried out by the British Army Rumour Service website found that 57% would vote Tory, and only 7% would vote Labour.

If our Labour government have no intention of helping our Armed Forces vote, then the service heads need to get this sorted - and bloody quick.