MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme visit Falklands and BFSAI at MPA

Lord Stevens, “our visit gave us a far better understanding of the importance of the work of BFSAI, and the range of duties that fall to the RAF, British Army and Royal Navy here in the Falklands”

The United Kingdom Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme (AFPS) recently visited the Falkland Islands and British Forces South Atlantic Islands, BFSAI at Mount Pleasant Complex. The aim of the AFPS is to allow Members from both Houses of Parliament the opportunity to visit various military locations, and provides education about service life including some 'hands on' time with service persons.

Meeting and working with soldiers, sailors and aviators allows for further understanding on the issues that affect the Armed Forces community both professionally and domestically, both at home and on operations.

The Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme recently visited the Falklands. The aim of the AFPS is to allow Members from both Houses of Parliament the opportunity to visit various military locations, and provides education about service life including some 'hands on' time with SP. pic.twitter.com/FFShiHeQ3Y

— BFSAI (@BFSouthAtlantic) February 24, 2024

Lord Stevens of Birmingham, a working Peer in the House of Lords said “Despite the challenges and complexity of operating in the Falklands and the South Atlantic - as well as the sometimes difficult living conditions - we were hugely impressed by the 'can-do' attitude of all the service personnel we spent time with. Our visit gave us a far better understanding of the importance of the work of BFSAI, and the range of duties that fall to the RAF, British Army and Royal Navy here, and this will certainly help inform our discussions in Parliament. So thank you to everyone involved in making the visit such a success, we really appreciated it.”

MP Richard Fuller, Conservative for North Bedfordshire in a local interview said that the group of all parties parliamentarians, both from House of Commons and House of Lords, came to the Falkland Islands to learn about the armed forces around the world, “but coming down to the Falklands is part of the scheme , but also a very special trip for us all as well.”

He added “one of the primary visits of the trip is to look at the three parts of our Armed Forces, how they work together and actually around the world and the Falklands is probably the best place to witness that.”

MP Fuller said it was also “an opportunity to meet the members of the Falklands Legislative Assembly and with Falklands government to learn about some of the pressing issues they have to deal with. We also met with the business community and the Development Corporation, and we have as you might say a list of some ideas they would like us to consider, important issues to do with economic ties, important issues to do with cultural association and some things that might seem minor, minor issues in the big scale of things but for individual families here in the Falklands they are very, very important issues and we've taken those on board. We'll go back and we will try to do the best we can to make some of those improvements for the families here.”

Finally the Conservative parliamentarian underlined that the Overseas Territories are part of the UK present and future, “there's a strong connection and I think unless parliamentarians get the opportunity to visit the Overseas Territories, we will sort of not have that sense of how we are a family together and this trip is part of creating that bond between the different parts of the British Family”.