Veterans who have met ministers in recent days have come away encouraged by what they have heard.
That is welcome. They were right to go. Ministers should be meeting veterans, listening to their concerns and responding to them. If those involved believe progress is being made, that deserves acknowledgement.
But this is not the time to stand down. It is time to STAND TO.
The critical date is 13 October.
There has been some confusion because the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill has already been “carried over” once.
On 27 April, MPs agreed to carry the Bill from one parliamentary Session into the next. That kept it alive when Parliament was prorogued.
The October timetable is different.
On 13 October, the Bill faces another procedural step ahead of what is shaping up to be an extraordinarily compressed period of Commons scrutiny.
The Government says it intends to bring forward a “substantial package of amendments safeguarding our Operation Banner veterans.”
That sounds encouraging.
But the Government is reportedly preparing more than 100 amendments to an exceptionally complicated piece of legislation.
MPs have then been allocated just two days — 19 and 20 October — to consider and amend the Bill.
John Lamont, the Shadow Deputy Leader of the House, has already warned that MPs are being given “very little time” to scrutinise it.
That is why positive meetings with ministers cannot be treated as the end of the campaign.
Veterans who attended those meetings can only judge what was put before them and the assurances they received. They face no criticism for reporting positively on constructive engagement.
The question for everyone else is what happens next.
Assurances are not amendments. Amendments are not law.
And with potentially more than 100 amendments and a severely compressed parliamentary timetable, continued scrutiny matters more than ever.
That means constituency action.
Do not rely on form emails.
Write personally to your MP.
Tell them who you are and why this matters to you. If you served, say so. If a family member served, tell them. If you simply believe that the country owes a duty to those it sent into harm’s way, explain that.
Then ask for a meeting.
MPs need to encounter this issue not as another batch of identical messages in an inbox (or spam folder0, but through the people they represent.
Ask your MP where they stand.
Ask whether they have examined the proposed protections for Operation Banner veterans.
Ask whether they will scrutinise the Government’s amendments rather than simply accept assurances about what those amendments are intended to achieve.
And ask the fundamental question: When the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill comes before you, what are you personally going to do?
Do not wait until 19 October.
By then MPs will already be dealing with the legislation.
13 October is the target.
By that date, MPs across the country should have received personal letters and emails from constituents. Meeting requests should have been made. Constituency surgeries should be taking place. MPs should know that the people they represent are watching what happens next.
The encouraging ministerial meetings demonstrate the value of direct engagement.
Now that engagement needs to spread from Westminster to constituencies across the country.
A good meeting is progress. It is not victory.
Write personally. Ask for a meeting. Put the question directly. Get your MP on the record.
My MP is Julian Lewis, a conservative who has backed veterans at every stage of the ‘troubles’ bill. The problem sits with Labour MPs who are being whipped and shown that they care more about their careers than Op BANNER veterans. Labour have a majority of 166, even with the odd abstention it’s hard to see how the vote can be overturned.