Contributions
1,183 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEngagementsQ5. I thank the Prime Minister for his service; he is a good man, and I wish him very well for the future. Politics is not a joke. Every other party in this House, except Reform,…15 Jul 2026HANSARDRemotely Piloted Aircraft SystemsThe money in the DIP is clearly not enough, but it is welcome that some money has been found for defence, and I particularly welcome the new drone facility that is coming to…06 Jul 2026HANSARD Civil Service PensionsI welcome the statement. I want to follow on from the question from the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson). Yes, Ministers must take responsibility for the…06 Jul 2026HANSARDDefence Investment PlanWith this new money, the defence budget is due to rise by about £17 billion a year over the next four years. In that same period, the welfare budget is going to rise by about £60…30 Jun 2026HANSARDG7 SummitSome 10 years on from the Brexit referendum, the Government want to align more closely with the European Union, but does the Deputy Prime Minister recognise as a statement of fact…22 Jun 2026HANSARDArmed Forces BillIt is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor (Alan Strickland). I start by stating, on behalf of my party, our support for this Bill and its…22 Jun 2026HANSARDArmed Forces BillI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for mentioning the SDR, because I was about to do so myself. It is not a strategy. For starters, it is a defence review. The point I was just…22 Jun 2026HANSARDArmed Forces BillMy point is that arguing loudly for a bigger armed forces, praising our troops, as we all do, or speaking up for our allies, as we should, are not a strategy. Publishing a…22 Jun 2026HANSARDArmed Forces BillThe word “strategy” can be put on all sorts of things. I am talking about what a strategy actually is. It is a plan of action that proceeds from an objective and a doctrine about…22 Jun 2026HANSARDArmed Forces BillI am conscious that the hon. Gentleman is an academic in this space. The point that I am making is that we need an overall vision for our country, a doctrine of how to achieve it…22 Jun 2026HANSARDArmed Forces BillI will not. Instead, I would like the United Kingdom to lead European defence by leading a partnership of other countries that have a capable military—most obviously France,…22 Jun 2026HANSARDArmed Forces BillI absolutely do not believe that we should form a European army, and we certainly should not join any sort of chain of command organised within the EU, but we can act with…22 Jun 2026HANSARDArmed Forces BillThe hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I am taking the opportunity of a defence debate to make the point that defence is downstream of grand strategy, and that is what is…22 Jun 2026HANSARDDefence Investment PlanThe defence funding is obviously very late and it will clearly be inadequate as well, but an even greater scandal is surely the fact that the spending itself is so poorly…15 Jun 2026HANSARDBelfast: Violent DisorderRioting is utterly wrong, and the scenes we saw in Belfast yesterday deserve our total condemnation, but law-abiding people across the country are rightly furious about the…10 Jun 2026HANSARDEnergy SecurityIt is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Nadia Whittome), because she made a very important point at the end. She is right: this is a very underwhelming…19 May 2026HANSARDEnergy SecurityWill the right hon. Member give way?19 May 2026HANSARD Peter Mandelson: Government AppointmentThe Prime Minister came to this House only yesterday saying, “I will now set out the full timeline”, —[ Official Report , 20 April 2026; Vol. 784, c. 23.] and later insisting that…21 Apr 2026HANSARDSecurity VettingIf Olly Robbins could and should have provided this information to the Prime Minister at the first opportunity, as the Prime Minister has said today, surely the same applies to…20 Apr 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI very much welcome the Government’s withdrawal of the Bill. I have two questions about the future commitment of this country to the Chagossian people and the Chagos islands.…13 Apr 2026