PM targets ‘witch-hunt law firms’

THERESA May is ordering sweeping changes to stop lawyers targeting British troops.

The Prime Minister said proposals would be announced within days to bring an end to legal firms ‘trying to impugn the name’ of the Armed Forces.

The blitz is expected to focus on making it no longer worthwhile for ambulancechasing lawyers to bring ‘vexatious’ cases. It is likely to include a crackdown on nowin, no-fee agreements and a time limit on claims.

At Picton Barracks in Wiltshire – her first visit to a military base as PM – Mrs May said: ‘What we need to take action on... is this issue of vexatious claims. The issue of those legal firms that are trying to impugn the name of our Armed Forces.

‘We need to ensure that when the men and women of our Armed Forces go out there on our behalf, willing to sacrifice themselves for our safety and for our defence, that they have our full confidence and backing in doing that.’

Mrs May’s intervention will be seen as an attempt to restore faith in the military for soldiers who feel they have been ‘hung out to dry’. Military chiefs fear that the witchhunt of troops, many of whom have been dragged through up to five probes for a decade-old incident, is damaging morale.

Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded forces in Afghanistan, said: ‘It is long overdue that the Prime Minister sticks up for our troops rather than sells them down the river.’