AN MP calling for a public inquiry into the deaths of soldiers at Catterick Garrison will take his fight to the House of Commons today.

Labour's Kevin McNamara will address MPs in a 90-minute debate on the deaths at Britain's biggest base, as well as at controversial Deepcut barracks in Surrey.

The former Northern Ireland spokesman is fighting on behalf of soldiers' families across the UK in calling for a public inquiry into all non-combatant deaths at Army bases across the country.

Mr McNamara has accused the Army of staging a cover-up over 23 deaths at Catterick, North Yorkshire, since 1995.

Relatives of dead soldiers wanting to find out what happened to their loved ones have been met with silence by the Army, he said.

Geoff Gray, father of Private Geoff Gray, of Seaham, County Durham, who was shot dead at Deepcut barracks in 2001, has joined forces with Mr McNamara in fighting for an independent inquiry.

They have been contacted by families across Britain - including relatives of Privates Richard Robertson and Allan Sharples, who both died of gunshot wounds at Catterick Garrison - desperate for information on the deaths.

A spokesman for the MP said Mr McNamara would be addressing concerns about supervision and training at Catterick Garrison, as well as focusing on the suspicious deaths of soldiers at Deepcut.

He said: "There does seem to be a pattern of inadequate supervision and failure of the Ministry of Defence to set up boards of inquiry to draw lessons in each case.

"Some things are happening year in year out without anything being done.

"We are trying to show that this problem is widespread across the country. It is not just a Deepcut problem."

More than 100 MPs have signed an early day motion calling for a nationwide public inquiry.

The move comes after police re-opened inquiries into the deaths of Geoff Gray, 17, Cheryl James, 18, Sean Benton, 20, and James Collinson, 17, who all died while stationed at Deepcut barracks.