A local councillor has condemned the decision by Kingston Student’s Union to forbid the armed forces from recruiting at the university’s Fresher’s Fair.

At March’s full council meeting, Conservative councillor Robert Tasker, an ex-student of Kingston University, tabled a question to Leader of the Council Derek Osbourne, asking if he would join him in condemning the motion passed at the student union annual general meeting in November of last year.

The decision, proposed by second-year student Joshua Ogunleye to protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and passed by a small majority, meant that the Territorial Army was prohibited from visiting Roehampton Vale campus and from any future visits.

Cllr Tasker said: “I think this decision is wholly regretful and an utter insult to those serving abroad currently. What is interesting is that the British armed forces play a key role in peace keeping efforts around the world - including Sierra Leone, Liberia and Serbia.”

He added: “We rely on the TA recruiting at fresher fairs so that our armed forces are able to protect innocents in other countries.”

However, Lib Dem councillor Derek Osbourne, who is also on the university’s board of governors, refused to condemn the decision simply stating that he did not have “any background (or indeed view) on the University Student’s Union decision”.

Cllr Tasker’s support has been welcomed by a group of students who have mounted a campaign to overturn the motion themselves.

Fronted by second-year law student, Christopher Dingle, the campaign aims to collect 200 signatures which will then trigger a referendum.

Mr Dingle said: “The ban takes away a massive amount of freedom and choice and determines what students can and can’t join. As a campaign, we do support the military because they do a lot more than gets publicized. We have a comment on our website from an officer in the regional army who talks about the effect a ban like this has on the army, it demoralizes the troops.”

The campaign comes just after UCL students’ victory in overturning their own union military ban against the Officer Training Corps (OTC).

Leading the charge was student Tom Parkinson, who said: “The proponents of so called “military bans” at various campuses consistently claim that they are pursued to register opposition to the conflicts the British military is engaged in abroad. This is deeply misguided. The military is an operational tool of the executive. Any legitimate resentment should be aimed toward the government who make policy, not at our brave men and women on the ground who conduct it.”

“All the military bans do in practice is restrict the ability of students to participate in a fun and valuable character-building opportunity whilst disrespecting some of the most incredibly selfless people in our society. Further, I think students are all capable of making their own decisions on the issue and that a blanket ban is a restriction on freedom of choice.”