Tri-Service

Green Party: British Army to Be 'Replaced' by Home Defence Force

The Green Party leader has said in an interview that the British Army would be replaced by a home defence force if they came to power. In comments made on the BBC's Sunday Politics programme Natalie Bennett also said British citizens should be free to join organisations like ISIS or IRA and that immigration controls should be reduced.

Miss Bennett said that the party would scrap Trident and leave NATO. The Army, Navy and Air Force would be cut and a home defence force created. She said "We obviously need to defend our own borders, civil defence and we have a real responsibility as a rich country to UN peacekeeping forces." She didn't comment on what the size of the force would be.

Under the auspices of a “different kind of society when the world is more equal, more balanced” there are aims to “progressively reduce the UK immigration controls” over the “medium term”.

The Green Party leader was pressed on whether or not a Green Government would “make it legal for people living here to be a member of Al Qaeda or Isis or the IRA, making it legal to be a member of a terrorist organisation”.

Miss Bennet responded saying:

“This is a part of our policy that dates back to the age of the ANC”

According to the Green Party leader, membership to organisations such as ISIS, Al Qaida, or the IRA would not constitute a crime in itself with the view that people should be punished for their actions, rather than what they think.

“What we want to do is to make sure we are not punishing people for what they think or what they believe."

Watch the interview below -