Contributions
1,811 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingWe are in a new era of threat and demands on defence are rising. The strategic defence review sets out a vision to make Britain safer, secure at home and strong abroad. The…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingThe hon. Gentleman tempts me. The opportunity for our defence industries in Northern Ireland is considerable, not just in supporting large defence businesses like Thales, which…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI notice that the hon. and learned Gentleman did not give the numbers for the Army, which are considerably higher than those he suggested for the Navy and the Air Force. It is…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingThe hon. Gentleman is a wily Member, trying to ask the same question from a different angle; I appreciate his effort. He will know that we are working flat-out to deliver the…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingThe hon. Gentleman will have welcomed not just the signing of the new medium helicopter contract, but the improvements that we secured to it. It was shocking, frankly, that the…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI do not know where the hon. Gentleman has been for most of this urgent question. I have been very clear, but he is trying to put words in my mouth; I appreciate him giving it a…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and for his service to the nation. He is absolutely right to say that NATO is the cornerstone of our defence. It benefits not just the…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI do not think Britain gets stronger by pushing kids into poverty. That is the fundamental difference, as I see it, between the welfare policies of our two parties. I am…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI might spend more of my time in secure rooms at the Ministry of Defence without my mobile phone, but I do know that the right hon. Gentleman spends a lot of time in this Chamber…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and his service. He sends me a lot of written parliamentary questions, but I recognise that he does so because of his service. I can…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI look forward to being in Northern Ireland next week for the announcement of the Northern Ireland defence growth deal, which is the fifth of our five defence growth deals. I am…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI thank the hon. Member for the way that he posed his question. There was much in it that I agree with him on. He is certainly right that we are not at war but nor are we at…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingThe right hon. Member is absolutely right that we need to go beyond conventional defence. That is why we have conventional and nuclear deterrence as part of our armed forces…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and for being honest about the consequences of his time in service. It is so important that when any veteran who has served in our…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingPerhaps if the hon. Gentleman would like to give some of the money that his former Reform leader in Wales got from Russia to the defence budget, we would have a wee bit more than…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI thank my hon. Friend for not only his question, but the work he does. He is a quiet and determined champion for Sandhurst and people who train in his constituency. There is a…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI thank the hon. Member for her question and for calling out and celebrating the work of Thales in her constituency. I have visited a number of Thales sites recently and have been…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI really like the right hon. Gentleman—he is a very jovial chap—and he raises some good points. The defence investment plan is needed. It is being worked on by our Department. We…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingIt is a Liz Truss klaxon moment, isn’t it? The hon. Member’s memory is so brief that he has forgotten about what Liz Truss and the Conservatives did to our economy only a few…15 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingI thank the hon. Gentleman for his advocacy for our independent nuclear deterrent. It was a shame that when the Liberal Democrats were in power, the decision to renew the…15 Apr 2026