Women will remain banned from front line, says Hoon

Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, bowed to pressure from senior military officers yesterday and upheld the ban on female soldiers in frontline combat roles.

His decision was announced after protracted government agonising on the issue and a two-year review of the Army's bar on women serving in the infantry or in tank crews.

Senior officers conceded that some women would be physically fit enough, but argued that their introduction would undermine close-knit fighting units such as the Royal Marines.

Mr Hoon said in a Commons answer: "Under the conditions of a high-intensity, close-quarter battle, group cohesion becomes of much greater significance to team performance and, in such an environment, failure can have far-reaching and grave consequences." To admit women would "involve a risk without any offsetting gains in terms of combat effectiveness", he said.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, said the move would have been an "irresponsible experiment".

The Ministry of Defence said the forces' right to exclude women from frontline roles had been upheld by the European Court of Justice.

But Paul Keetch, the Liberal Democrat defence spokes-man, said the ruling could face a legal challenge. "In order to defend our values and freedoms, our armed forces must reflect them as well. Equality of opportunity is a fundamental part of those values."

Jenny Watson, the Equal Opportunities Commission deputy chairwoman, denied mixed units would undermine operational effectiveness. "Each individual should be judged on the basis of their ability to carry out the job, using relevant tests," she said.

As part of the two-year review, field exercises were run at the infantry training centre in Brecon, with about 50 male and female soldiers drawn mainly from the Royal Artillery, in which women can serve. Although mixed teams of women and men performed no differently from single-sex teams, officials said the tests did not adequately simulate the stress of combat.

Officials looked at the possibility of introducing all-women tank crews, but dropped the idea because the crew members of a disabled tank have to be prepared to split up and join another vehicle.

Admiral Boyce said that while the armed forces wanted to be a "more inclusive employer", the decision on women in frontline combat was one that would influence operational effectiveness.

"The roles that we are talking about are those where our personnel would be deployed in face-to-face combat with the enemy and this is not something that can be trialled. We need to ensure that our people are afforded the maximum chance of success and the minimum risk of losing life.

"I and my fellow chiefs of staff have therefore concluded that it would be irresponsible to experiment by placing women in those roles."

Women can fill 70 per cent of the roles in the Army, 73 per cent in the Royal Navy and 96 per cent in the Royal Air Force.