Contributions
1,320 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDNATO Defence Expenditure TargetWe are doing exactly what my hon. Friend urges me to do. He, like me, will be proud of the fact that the Labour Government have produced a strategic defence review—a landmark…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthWe signed the European Union security and defence partnership in May. We committed ourselves to negotiating with the European Union for access to the SAFE funding arrangements.…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthThe answer is simple, and it is the same one I gave to the hon. Member for North Devon (Ian Roome). We are working flat out between now and the end of the year to finalise the…15 Dec 2025HANSARDNATO Defence Expenditure TargetThis summer, the UK joined all other 31 NATO nations in agreeing the new NATO benchmark of 5% spending on national security by 2035. That followed this Government’s announcement…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthI do indeed. The hon. Gentleman knows as much about defence as anyone else in this House, and I pay tribute to him for his work on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegation. The…15 Dec 2025HANSARDNATO Defence Expenditure TargetIf the hon. Member wants to trade records, his Government had 14 years to raise defence spending; it falls to this Government to raise it back to 2.5%—the level it was at in 2010,…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthWe are working flat out between now and the end of the year to finalise the defence investment plan. Even though the hon. Gentleman is a new Member of this House, he will…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthWe are working with the Welsh Government, Welsh industry, companies like those that my hon. Friend mentioned, and Welsh academics and universities to work out the dimensions of a…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthI can indeed. My hon. Friend is right: not only is this the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war—spending committed by this Government—and…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthI do indeed recognise my hon. Friend’s excitement, as she puts it, about the opportunities created by the deep space advanced radar capability, the new drone developments and…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthMr Speaker, the House does indeed join in your sentiments towards all those who are suffering as a result of the attack at Bondi Beach. I know the whole House will also join me in…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthI can indeed. My hon. Friend is right: his constituency hosts not only some important big UK defence primes, but many very small innovative firms. That is why, as a new…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthThe right hon. Gentleman is right to point to the recent record—the 14 years of hollowing out and underfunding of Britain’s armed forces that my hon. Friend the Member for…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthThe House will know to take no lessons from the right hon. Gentleman. When he was in government, his munitions strategy was often promised and never published. His drone strategy…15 Dec 2025HANSARDDefence Spending: Economic GrowthI am interested to hear that observation from the right hon. Gentleman, who of course was a Defence Minister for several of the 14 years during which his Government never moved to…15 Dec 2025HANSARDNATO Defence Expenditure TargetI will. My hon. Friend, who serves on the Defence Committee and did in the previous Parliament, will remember that total spending on defence in the last year of the last…15 Dec 2025HANSARDFactories of the FutureIn the strategic defence review published in June, the MOD committed £1.5 billion of additional defence investment for energetics and munitions, including the always-on munitions…19 Nov 2025HANSARDUkraine: Military SupportThe UK is playing a leading role in stepping up support for Ukraine. This year we are spending the highest ever level on military aid to Ukraine through the Ukraine Defence…03 Nov 2025HANSARDDefence Industrial BaseThe first useful step, of course, would be for the Scottish nationalist Government to lift their bar on any support for defence and associated firms. One of the biggest problems…03 Nov 2025HANSARDDefence Industrial BaseThe hon. Lady is absolutely right. Like her, I am very excited about the defence industrial strategy, and she is right to urge me to ensure we take an early decision about the…03 Nov 2025