Contributions
1,819 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD DefenceMy right hon. Friend makes an excellent point. One issue we face is that if you are not Iranian or Russian and living in the UK, you may believe that this does not affect you too…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceMy right hon. Friend is absolutely correct. That is precisely the point, and that is exactly why it is right to invest in Ukraine. I do not want to make this a political speech—07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceThis is a serious issue, and I am surprised by that sort of attitude. I want to ask, because it is a serious point, whether the Opposition are now ready to commit to that extra…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceAs my right hon. Friend will realise, it is not a move I have taken easily. There is a balance to be struck between where the weapons can do the most good and the extraordinarily…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceI will make a little progress, if I may. We have pledged this half a billion pounds extra, so we are at £3 billion a year. The crucial point—it has perhaps been lost, or perhaps I…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceI am a little concerned about not giving others an opportunity to contribute, but I will allow the right hon. Gentleman one last intervention.07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceI certainly do agree: all parts of the United Kingdom have a very important role to play, especially Northern Ireland, where missile production, ships and electronics are…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceI am pleased to reassure my right hon. Friend from this Front Bench that no such delay would be countenanced. Just in the last few weeks we have issued the defence nuclear…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceYou heard it here first, Madam Deputy Speaker. I warmly welcome that commitment, which was not available under the then coalition Government. It is an important moment, and I…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceThe right hon. Gentleman wants to relitigate the past, but I think we all agree that we cannot do anything about it. I want to talk about the future, and the future is that those…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceI will be as diplomatic as possible: the Liberal Democrats asked us to investigate a range of options, and I am very pleased that the one we ended up with was the four-submarine…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceI should point out that there are a wide number of differences for us, because within Nato—this relates to article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty—we are in a different region…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceI will be less generous with interventions and will rattle through the remaining important content for our military services. We are building on the recent defence drone strategy…07 May 2024HANSARD DefenceI think the right hon. Gentleman will now understand why I was so pleased to trounce the Liberal Democrats when it came to that election—to squeeze them out of government and…07 May 2024HANSARDDefence SpendingWith permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement updating the House on the Government’s commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5% this decade. In my speech at Lancaster…24 Apr 2024HANSARDDefence SpendingLet me start on the areas that I agree with. The right hon. Gentleman mentioned how much we welcome the US Congress putting $60 billion into the defence of Ukraine. We warmly…24 Apr 2024HANSARDDefence SpendingI thank my right hon. Friend not just for his words, but for his constant campaigning on this subject. Those of us who have been subject to him in a Select Committee know that he…24 Apr 2024HANSARDDefence SpendingMy right hon. Friend the Chair of the Defence Committee is absolutely right on the investment point. I spoke to my opposite number, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, yesterday…24 Apr 2024HANSARDDefence SpendingThe first thing I should point out is that page 20 in the annex of the document before the House describes the uplift in the defence budget. We have headlined it as £75 billion.…24 Apr 2024HANSARDDefence SpendingMy right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Although this is £75 billion and although it takes our budget to 2.5% of GDP, that is a fraction—a fraction—of what it would cost if…24 Apr 2024