Overseas troops to get free Christmas post
British service personnel serving abroad this Christmas will receive a boost this year, as the Prime Minister confirmed that packages can be posted to them free of charge.
Responding to a question from Hastings MP Michael Foster during Prime Minister’s Question Time, Tony Blair told the House that families will be able to send “postal packets, free of charge, from anywhere in the UK to all service personnel serving overseas”.
The free service will apply in “the run-up to Christmas”, though Mr Blair hinted that he may consider extending the service, concluding that “we will then see what happens after that period of time”.
Speaking to politics.co.uk afterwards, Mr Foster said he was pleased with the “magnanimous gesture” from the Prime Minister.
Mr Foster, whose specific question had been about post to the troops in Iraq, said he was particularly pleased that the Prime Minister had addressed the “wider issues” of all overseas personnel and said he hoped that the service could be extended permanently. Regardless of MPs’ personal views about the rightness of military action, he said, it was important to provide for the welfare of the troops.
Revealing that his question had been prompted by the experiences of some of his constituents, who have sons in Iraq and are worried about the postal costs for gifts, Mr Foster urged all those with families or friends in Iraq to make use of the new free system.
Giving details of the scheme later, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence told politics.co.uk that it would operate between November 17th and December 15th.
All troops in active operations will be covered by the scheme, for example Iraq and Afghanistan, but those in permanent bases such as Germany will not be covered.
Family and friends with packages weighing less than two kilograms can post parcels through the Royal Mail system, but the spokesman stressed that unsolicited mail from the general public will not be covered.
