Contributions
1,451 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshThat young man will have an excellent future in the armed forces, for as long as he wishes to stay. The Army is still recruiting; we have not all stopped everything. It is…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshThe Ministry of Defence recognises, as does the defence industry, that skills are important. About two weeks ago, I spent a great afternoon at the National Cyber Force, up at…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshI am very grateful to my right hon. Friend. Long before I was doing this job, he was campaigning for defence to be properly apportioned the funding it deserved to keep this…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshThe right hon. Gentleman knows me fairly well. We once spent a nice week in Iran together, with the then Member for Blackburn—I was the most pro-European of the three, I remember.…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshThe original defence Command Paper absolutely built on that. On the resilience building of nations such as, sadly, Mali, if we can get in early enough and help those countries…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshIt absolutely is. The House has heard me say that I have taken the profit from those companies; I have nationalised more things than any previous Defence Secretary, so perhaps I…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshWe can argue about size, but we have to make sure that whatever we put in the field is properly equipped and enabled, and is effectively 360°. That is really important. We…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshThis is about making sure the framework is match fit for any expansion and for the future. It is also about investing in holes such as re-stockpiling, and making sure that, over…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, and grateful for his party’s support on Ukraine. On the Haythornthwaite review and skills, right across Europe and the west we are seeing…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshI am just looking up page 89, which says that, to counter these threats, “we will step up our efforts to deliver an Integrated Air and Missile Defence approach.” We are doing that…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshThere is certainly an odd thing that I observe in the Department: I cannot understand why the procurement speed and delivery in our Kindred, our operation to gift and support…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshMy hon. Friend makes an important observation about Levene. I do not think Levene is fit for today. Parts of Levene have not worked. I do not see the TLBs, or the Army, Navy and…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshHaving listened to the hon. Lady, for example, we have taken money that was allocated elsewhere and decided that making sure those houses are in a better state is more of a…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshI thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind comments. I have always liked both sparring and discussing defence with him. Importantly, many of us across the House understand that…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshI am grateful for the right hon. Gentleman’s comments. We both went to Washington in 2006 to lobby for a waiver from the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and we are very…18 Jul 2023HANSARDDefence Command Paper RefreshI thank my right hon. Friend for his work on the report and for his campaigning. Let me also say, however, that procurement has started to improve. In 2009-10, the average time…18 Jul 2023HANSARDCamp Bagnold: Gifting to the UNI have today laid before the House a departmental minute describing the provision of infrastructure worth £4,226,970 to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated…17 Jul 2023HANSARDArmed Forces PayI am today announcing the Government’s decision on pay for the armed forces for 2023-24. The Government recognise that armed forces personnel continue to work with great…13 Jul 2023HANSARDBritish Armed Forces: Independent Inquiry Related to AfghanistanAs announced to the House on 15 December 2022, I commissioned the right hon. Lord Justice Haddon-Cave to chair an independent statutory inquiry under the 2005 Inquiries Act to…05 Jul 2023HANSARDAstute Replacement Programme: Contingent LiabilityI am today laying a departmental minute to advise that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has received approval from His Majesty’s Treasury to recognise new contingent liabilities…28 Jun 2023