UK Lawmakers Say Military Personnel Forced to Live in 'Rat-Infested' Barracks

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - UK lawmakers at a government hearing on Monday demanded explanations from Defense Procurement Minister James Cartlidge over rats, mold and dampness in military personnel accommodations.

"A constituent of mine who lives at Clive Barracks at Tern Hill in Shropshire has reported that he lives in rat-infested accommodation and sometimes with two to six soldiers living in the same room," lawmaker Helen Morgan said.

As a result, some 40 shipping containers were placed on the territory in late August and furnished as cheap hotel rooms for servicemen to live in, she added. The lawmaker asked Cartlidge whether he could give any reassurance that the service members would be provided with better accommodation in the near future.

"This time last year the minister will be aware that almost 5,000 armed forces personnel's homes were affected by black mold and damp, including obviously many properties that had children in them. A year on, too many of our service personnel and their families still have this problem," another lawmaker, Chris Elmore, said.

Cartlidge admitted the situation was not "good enough" but said the government had a plan to fund works for eliminating dampness and mold in some 4,000 units of military accommodations, which he said was about 60% of all that require addressing.

The concerning state of UK barracks mirrors recents reports detailing how American troops are being provided "poor living conditions" that have increasingly undermined the "quality of life and readiness."

An earlier report by the US Government Accountability Office revealed that on-base living accommodations were riddled with mold, pests, broken air conditioning units and various plumbing issues, among other concerns. The growing list of much-needed improvements was largely blamed on managers being given insufficient resources to meet the demands of the job.