New Armed Forces Act will ring in massive changes

And this law, reports The Telegraph, will be the most important one in 50 years. At present, the three Services, the Army, Navy and Air Force, have distinct disciplinary and criminal justice systems, based on three separate Acts of Parliament. The new Armed Forces Bill, to be published soon, will replace these with a single system of Service law. This makes sense, says the report, as all three are increasingly deployed on joint operations and having them subject to different disciplinary systems causes unnecessary complications. Among the changes envisioned is a reduction in the powers of the Commanding Officer of the Navy, who has enjoyed greater powers than his counterparts in the Army and Air Force. Dramatic changes are planned for the system of court martial. A joint prosecuting authority will replace the three existing Service authorities. There will be a permanent Court Martial, replacing the one-off courts that must be convened for each trial. It will cover all three Services. There will also be changes to the court\'s composition. Full report in The Telegraph