The Conservative Whip and former army officer Andrew Robathan MP had a prominent role - before and after the 2005 General Election - in drawing parliamentary attention to service voting issues.

From Defence Oral Questions, House of Commons, 22 February 2010:

Andrew Rosindell (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Romford, Conservative)

Can the Minister confirm that all service personnel are being given all the correct information to ensure that they are able to cast their vote in forthcoming elections?

Following the small poll which we ran on www.arrse.co.uk we have now posted a similar one-question survey on our own website:

• Preferred voting method from a BFPO location

From The Times, February 15, 2010, by Fiona Hamilton

The British National Party was last night accused of plumbing new depths after it hijacked an online campaign to celebrate an amputee soldier’s birthday. Military officials described the political stunt as shameful and condemned the far-Right party for exploiting the predicament of wounded soldiers.

Adam Downey was a signaller with the Royal Corps of Signals when he was hit by a car in Afghanistan at 19. He says changes to the AFCS would make a "massive difference" to his life

BAFF Executive Douglas Young was interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio Wales about an expected Government announcement today (10 Feb 2010) of further improvements to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme for personnel injured on duty after 5 April, 2005. In welcoming improvements, Young supported the call by The Royal British Legion in their Election Manifesto for the Scheme in future to be kept under continuous review.

In his BBC Radio Wales interview, Young expressed concern that today's expected announcement was also preparing the ground for a more rigorous policy in respect of personnel who were unable to return to full military fitness as a result of injury or sickness. Young also commented on a call by the National Audit Office for Defence Chiefs and the NHS to deal with the consequences of a rise in the number of troops requiring treatment or evacuation from Afghanistan.

Spending on defence over the last 12 years has not matched the demands made on our armed forces, and the equipment programme is underfunded by nearly £35 billion, writes Antonia Cox in More bang for the buck: how we can get better value from the defence budget, published on Monday 1 February by the Centre for Policy Studies.

Both major parties are committed to a Strategic Defence Review following the general election. But Antonia Cox argues that besides the hard choices to be made in an SDR, the MoD must show that it has learned the lessons of past failures in military procurement and that we can get better value from our equipment budget. ...

The public wants to see service personnel to be properly equipped. That is more important than local industrial considerations. The good news is that by learning the lessons of previous failures in defence procurement, it should be possible to deliver more for less.

• Centre for Policy Studies: More bang for the buck
• More bang for the buck (PDF report)

Iraq Inquiry: operational equipment.

British forces went into Iraq without enough body armour because planning for the war took place “at the last minute”, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup told the inquiry into the conflict.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent, The Daily Telegraph

Published: 12:35PM GMT 01 Feb 2010

Sir Jock, the head of the Armed Forces, also told the Chilcot inquiry that military aircraft programmes were not properly funded in the run-up to the war.

He was in charge of defence equipment in 2002 and 2003. He told the inquiry that several mistakes were made in the years and months before the war.

Sir Jock admitted that some troops sent into Iraq did not have the proper desert combat clothing and boots, because supplies did not reach the right units.

He also said that some troops did not get the body armour they should have had.

“The other area where we could have done better is Enhanced Combat Body Armour. We didn’t have enough of that in theatre at the time," he said.

“It was all being done so rapidly at the last minute so no one knew who had what.”

• Full article at Telegraph.co.uk

BAFF has accepted that there is no practical prospect of the necessary changes to electoral legislation, let alone the complex technical and administrative arrangements, being achieved in time to allow electronic voting by service personnel and their families in the UK General Election which could take place in May 2010.

The possibility of new voting arrangements such as electronic voting for service voters overseas is, however, being looked at with a view to consideration for possible inclusion in future electoral legislation.

UPDATE MARCH 2010 - Some links about electronic voting or 'e-Voting':