MoD ‘letting down troops’ with delay on new medal

BEN WALLACE has accused the Ministry of Defence of letting down troops over the slow rollout of a new medal for service personnel.

The former defence secretary has expressed his frustrations over the Wider Service Medal (WSM), which has been six years in the making and has still not materialised.

Mr Wallace, who served as defence secretary from 2019-23, revealed on X, formerly Twitter, that he had signed off on the medal, which is designed to recognise service personnel not normally put forward for medallic recognition “over a year ago”.

He wrote: “Somebody in the system is blocking it or trying to undo what was decided. Not a way to treat any one in the forces.”

The WSM was designed to recognise serving personnel’s contribution to campaigns that keep the country safe, such as those who work on the continuous at-sea deterrent and other campaigns that reflect modern war.

Mr Wallace earlier told Parliament: “People hundreds of miles away are contributing to keeping us safe, and they sometimes need to be recognised, not just the person pulling the trigger or storming the bunker; it goes all the way back… the pyramid is very big and very deep. Hopefully a wider campaign medal will recognise that.”

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Wallace said he had worked on changing the criteria “over the years” to make it “more relative by shaping it as a medal that recommends contributions to enduring campaigns, which ensured we picked up everyone that contributes wherever they may be based”.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “Medals play an important role in acknowledging the work of our brave personnel. We are working with other government departments to ensure we get this right – any changes will be announced once the required consultation and approval process are complete.”