The former Defence Minister Penny Mordaunt has called for vandals who desecrate war memorials to spend time with service personnel and has called for tougher sentences.
She has called on tougher measures to be imposed and has called on the Justice Secretary to give judges more powers for stiffer sentences.
Mordaunt who is now the paymaster general for the Cabinet Office said there have been some “disturbing scenes” with the desecration of Winston Churchill and the “Cenotaph.”
She said, “I know from having spent some time in uniform and working closely with our armed forces for many years, the sense of care and duty those men and women feel towards everyone in our country…
“In desecrating such memorials some protesters sent a message to veterans and all those in uniform today: your life doesn’t matter to me.
“Whatever the motivations for such acts, they should be condemned in the strongest terms and are totally against the values of the people of our country, of every creed and colour.
“I fully understand therefore why people have been moved to protect those memorials, and the immense anger felt.”
She wrote a letter to Justice Secretary Robert Buckland saying, “I would like to suggest that for some found guilty of vandalising such memorials they might benefit from some time spent with our service personnel, perhaps at a battle camp.
“That might give them a new appreciation of just what these people go through for their sakes.
“They are their armed forces. They should be respected and treasured.”
Buckland has not dismissed the idea and is consulting with judges over tougher sentences, and “shares their objectives.”
MPs unanimously approved the new Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (Amendment) (No.3) Regulations 2020.
The website adds, “During the emergency period … no person may participate in a gathering which takes place in a public or private place—
(a)outdoors, and consists of more than six persons, or
(b)indoors, and consists of two or more persons.”
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