Shadow Veterans Minister and Liverpool MP sit down with Lord Mayor and Liverpool Veteran organisations
(Press Release)
Party conference came to an end in Liverpool last Wednesday and before heading off back to her Luton South constituency, shadow minister, Rachel Hopkins MP, stopped by Liverpool Town Hall with local Wavertree MP, Paula Barker, to meet various veteran charities supported by the Lord Mayor, Councillor Roy Gladden. The meeting was organised by Councillor Gladden and Paula Barker’s office in her role as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey MP. Liverpool Veterans HQ, Tom Harrison House, the Royal British Legion, and Bay Tree Catering were represented at the meeting.
Councillor Roy Gladden, a veteran himself, is supporting the charity Liverpool Veterans HQ during his 2022-23 term of office and remains the Armed Forces Champion for Liverpool City Council.
Rachel Hopkins MP, Shadow Minister for Veterans and Defence People, said:
“It was brilliant to hear directly from veteran charities in Liverpool about the excellent work they do for the veteran community. By working together in partnership, the charities ensure veterans and their families receive the comprehensive care they deserve, from housing to employment.
The Labour Party is deeply proud of veterans’ and their families’ enormous contribution to our country. In Government, we want to ensure Britain is the best country in the world to be a veteran.”
Paula Barker MP: “The shadow defence team is determined to deliver for veterans and the veterans’ community when we return to Government after the next Election. It was genuinely humbling to hear of the fantastic work local veteran charities are doing across Liverpool. In so many instances, they are the first port of call in offering bespoke, intensive and if necessary prolonged support for those veterans across an array of issues. As a country, there’s so much more to do in supporting those who served in our Armed Forces”.
The veteran charities involved in the discussion are in collaboration with one another to complement each other’s operation in supporting every veteran’s individual needs, whatever their circumstances.
Veterans HQ, one of Cllr Gladden’s charities, “provide a unique holistic support service and engagement programme for ex armed forces personnel, reservists and their families across the Liverpool City Region and surrounding areas”.
The North West makes up 14% of England’s working age veterans as of 2019
Again, in 2019, there were 6.160 recorded working aged veterans in the city of Liverpool aged 16 to 64 making up just short of 2% of the working-age population.
In Liverpool, according to 2017 figures, there were 2045 people in Liverpool in receipt of a miliary pension/compensation from the MoD.
Source:- Regional_Report_2019_North-West.pdf (covenantfund.org.uk)
