STUDENTS in Manchester have been slammed by war veterans for launching a bid to ban Britain's armed forces from campus.

Recruitment officers from the Army, RAF and Navy would be barred from setting up stalls at the University of Manchester students union for three years under a proposal to be voted on next week.

Supporters of the ban say it is "completely unacceptable" for the military to be allowed to recruit young people to fight in "massively unpopular" wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The student motion comes just weeks after a vote by the National Union of Teachers, at their annual conference in Manchester, which opposed military recruitment campaigns in schools. Undergraduates at University College London have also adopted a similar ban.

The Ministry of Defence said yesterday that it was "disappointed" that students in Manchester were seeking to bring in a ban on the military while Macclesfield MP Sir Nicholas Winterton, who completed National Service, labelled the plans `an utter disgrace'.

He said: "I am absolutely appalled at this. Our armed forces are the best in the world and have a history of standing up to protect our freedoms.

"Perhaps these students should recognise that historically it is because of our armed forces that they have the opportunity to go to university and gain qualifications."

Myopic

Sir Nicholas, who campaigns on behalf of the armed forces in Parliament, added: "These brave young boys and girls do not ask to go to Afghanistan and Iraq. That's the government's decision. This view if I may say seems rather myopic."

War veteran Martin Watkins, the Royal British Legion's county chairman for Manchester, also condemned the move, saying: "Perhaps these people should bear in mind that the average age of people killed in Iraq and Afghanistan while fighting for the freedoms they take for granted is 22."

Mr Watkins, 62, who served in the Royal Air Force for 27 years, added: "Their reaction should be compared to students at Nottingham University. They came to Manchester and raised £25,000 for the Poppy Appeal."

The ban on the military at Manchester University would last for three years if it is approved next Wednesday.

The proposal states: "It is completely unacceptable for military recruiters, whose purpose is to recruit young people to fight and die in massively unpopular wars, to target us in our educational establishments.

"It is disgraceful that military propaganda is focused on the excitement of military life, and targets students with economic problems on the basis of a well paid job, obscuring the reality of military life and wars being fought."

It has been put forward by Andy Cunningham, who has a full time job as students' union campaigns officer. He said the move reflects ongoing opposition among students to the forces' involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and he claimed the armed forces are increasingly targeting students, who can see involvement with the forces as a way of escaping from student debt.

Mr Cunningham said: "Usually we don't like the military on campus anyway. And this would give us official policy of not welcoming the Ministry of Defence on campus.

Links

"There is a large officer training corps on campus that has strong links with the university. If this is successful we will be looking to the university to sever their links as well."

The vote has sparked outrage among students who are members of the Manchester and Salford Universities Officer Training Corps, which is a branch of the Territorial Army aimed specifically at higher education students.

They are mobilising members to attend the meeting and vote down the proposal and nearly 800 people have joined a group on the website Facebook to campaign against the proposed ban.

Ministry of Defence spokesman Greg Stringer said: "It is disappointing that these students are proposing to ban military personnel from the student union buildings.

"Universities play an important role in raising awareness among young people about the important work our armed forces do and we enjoy a good relationship with most universities. However people view specific military operations everyone should be able to respect the brave and professional job that our armed forces perform."

Army spokesperson Martine McNee said the army is "disappointed" by the move. She stressed that the army only goes to venues where they are invited. And she says that university students are capable of making up their own minds about the armed forces, based on the information they are given.

"We have as much right as any other organisation - be it the police or the construction industry - to be invited, but we don't do anything unless we are invited," she said.

"It is a bit disappointing that people would make decisions like this when they don't know the full facts.

"They don't know the good things that our service people are doing or the operations that they are in. They are doing a great job very professionally. No matter what your political leanings are you can't argue with that.

"Whether you agree with them being there in the first place that is by the by. They are doing an awful lot to help people, especially in places like Afghanistan."

A spokesman for Manchester University said the students' union had control over the students' union buildings and the events that occurred there.

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