UK Parliament / Open data

Defence Spending (Wales)

Adjournment debate on Wednesday, 8 December 2010, in the House of Commons, led by Sian C James. The answering member was Lord Robathan.
Westminster Hall adjournment debate on defence spending in Wales.
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
520 c69-94WH 
Session
2010-12
Department
Ministry of Defence
Chamber / Committee
Westminster Hall
Proceeding contributions
Chris Bryant | 520 c93WH (Link to this contribution) This is a serious point. Many of us believe that bringing together all the forces for technical trai...
Lord Robathan | 520 c93WH (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman will understand, I have to be very careful not to commit myself to things that...

Show all contributions (125)
Geraint Davies | 520 c94WH (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give us some indication of the time frame in which we will get clarity over whethe...
Lord Robathan | 520 c94WH (Link to this contribution) The review does not have an end date, but I expect it to be within the next few months. I appreciat...
Albert Owen | 520 c94WH (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister tell us the position with regard to replacing Sea Kings with Sikorsky helicopters?...
Lord Robathan | 520 c94WH (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I do not have the time, but I will write to the hon. Gentleman. In conclusion, the...
Lord Robathan | 520 c92WH (Link to this contribution) I am just saying that I am not Welsh [Interruption.] Rather, I am not anti-Welsh. The name Robathan ...
Lord Robathan | 520 c92-3WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is always full of hot air. If he could listen for a bit, he will hear what I have...
Madeleine Moon | 520 c90WH (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that the Select Committee on Defence carried out a full and thorough inquiry...
Russell Brown | 520 c90-1WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is an extremely knowledgeable member of the Select Committee, and is exactly right; i...
Russell Brown | 520 c90WH (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. I shall come to that later, but I have to say to my hon. Friend that I could not have pu...
John Glen | 520 c91WH (Link to this contribution) I said that the Defence Committee's report was pretty clear about the SDSR being undertaken in the w...
Russell Brown | 520 c91WH (Link to this contribution) I clearly picked up from the start of the hon. Gentleman's contribution that St Athan, and what was ...
Chris Bryant | 520 c90WH (Link to this contribution) I hope that my hon. Friend will make it clear that there has been another loss of opportunity in rel...
Russell Brown | 520 c90WH (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I hope to cover some of the points that have been rais...
Nick Smith | 520 c90WH (Link to this contribution) Does my good friend agree that what we heard from Members on the Government Benches today was a sham...
Guto Bebb | 520 c87WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman appears to be making the case for defence spending to be used as an economic deve...
Chris Evans | 520 c87-8WH (Link to this contribution) I will come to that point when I discuss General Dynamics in my constituency. This is about the kno...
Russell Brown | 520 c89-90WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East (Mrs James) on securing this debate. I put...
Madeleine Moon | 520 c89WH (Link to this contribution) No, I am not giving way again; our time is severely limited and I want to make progress. I have mad...
Madeleine Moon | 520 c89WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is trying to turn the whole debate. I am frightened by the debate, because the Go...
Guto Bebb | 520 c89WH (Link to this contribution) It would appear that we are again receiving a lecture about the role of defence spending in economic...
Madeleine Moon | 520 c88-9WH (Link to this contribution) The Labour Government held a number of reviews, but not full defence and security reviews. There was...
Oliver Colvile | 520 c88WH (Link to this contribution) The Labour Government were in power for 13 years yet, after the initial period, they failed to produ...
Madeleine Moon | 520 c88WH (Link to this contribution) It is highly appropriate that you are chairing this Committee, Mr Gray, given your knowledge and exp...
Albert Owen | 520 c85WH (Link to this contribution) I think that we need to kill this myth. We are talking about strategic defence for the next 25 years...
Oliver Colvile | 520 c86WH (Link to this contribution) The issue of where in the United Kingdom public expenditure will go must be taken as a whole.
Speaker | 520 c86WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Similarity is not enough. The debate must be about defence spending in Wales, and not about P...
Oliver Colvile | 520 c86WH (Link to this contribution) Fine. What I will say is that Wales has a significant part to play in the defence of our country, as...
Nick Smith | 520 c86WH (Link to this contribution) With respect, the hon. Gentleman is the second Government ringer who has been brought into the debat...
Oliver Colvile | 520 c85-6WH (Link to this contribution) I wrote, during the run up to the strategic defence and security review, my own submission, in which...
Oliver Colvile | 520 c86WH (Link to this contribution) If I may say so, Mr Gray, there is a similarity with some of the issues that affect Wales.
Speaker | 520 c86WH (Link to this contribution) Order. That is not about Wales.
Chris Evans | 520 c86-7WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East (Mrs James) on securing the debate. Even i...
Speaker | 520 c81WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Before the hon. Gentleman answers, let me say that it is a long tradition of the House that w...
Chris Ruane | 520 c81WH (Link to this contribution) What could be more important to a Member than defending a £20 billion investment in their own consti...
Huw Irranca-Davies | 520 c82WH (Link to this contribution) I would like to be, but I am not right honourable yet.
Simon Hart | 520 c82WH (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman—I think he is right honourable—for his contribution.
Madeleine Moon | 520 c82WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Simon Hart | 520 c82WH (Link to this contribution) It is only a matter of time. Despite that, I do not agree with a word that the hon. Gentleman said. ...
Simon Hart | 520 c81WH (Link to this contribution) Absolutely, Mr Gray. I apologise for coming—unnecessarily, as it turns out—to the defence of my coll...
Huw Irranca-Davies | 520 c81-2WH (Link to this contribution) I genuinely thank the hon. Gentleman for his clarity and honesty, because we are seeing a complete v...
Simon Hart | 520 c81WH (Link to this contribution) No, I want to make a wee bit of progress. Fun though these exchanges are, they will come to an end i...
Simon Hart | 520 c82WH (Link to this contribution) No. I will finish now. I am sure that the hon. Lady will then have the floor. To end on a lighter n...
Madeleine Moon | 520 c82WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Simon Hart | 520 c82WH (Link to this contribution) No. I am coming to an end. We are holding the telescope to the wrong eye if we think the nation can...
Oliver Colvile | 520 c85WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this feisty and entertaining debate. I thank all hon. ...
Albert Owen | 520 c84-5WH (Link to this contribution) Actually, I have lobbied on these issues. If the hon. Gentleman knows me, he will know that there is...
John Glen | 520 c84WH (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman is so supportive of a regular review of defence spending now, will he tell us ...
Albert Owen | 520 c83WH (Link to this contribution) I will give way briefly, but I am aware of the time constraints.
John Glen | 520 c83WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Albert Owen | 520 c83WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray. I want to distance myself slightly from ...
Speaker | 520 c83WH (Link to this contribution) Order. A further seven or eight hon. Members are trying to catch my eye. According to my elementary ...
Sian C James | 520 c70WH (Link to this contribution) I agree, and there are many such examples; I will home in on that issue later.
Alun Michael | 520 c70WH (Link to this contribution) In addition to the issue of the unfairness, does it not seem that the coalition Government are deter...
Sian C James | 520 c70WH (Link to this contribution) I agree with my right hon. Friend. Unfortunately, the Government cutting of their nose to spite thei...
Lord Robathan | 520 c70WH (Link to this contribution) I am listening with surprise to the hon. Lady, because she seems to be saying that we should make de...
Sian C James | 520 c70WH (Link to this contribution) I cannot agree with the Minister. I am saying—I thought I had done so clearly—that there is a dispar...
Wayne David | 520 c70WH (Link to this contribution) On that important point, if the Government were concerned about the well-being of the armed forces, ...
Sian C James | 520 c71WH (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that. What have we heard from the coalition? The Prime Minister and the D...
Nick Smith | 520 c70WH (Link to this contribution) Blaenau Gwent contributes many servicemen and women to our armed forces, and we have had some great ...
Sian C James | 520 c70WH (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. Wales received the second lowest military investment of any region in t...
Sian C James | 520 c69-70WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to secure this important debate, and to the Minister for attending...
Sian C James | 520 c73-4WH (Link to this contribution) I urge people to look at that website. We must have the most up-to-date information, and I hope that...
Sian C James | 520 c73WH (Link to this contribution) Well, the hon. Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart) is entitled to his op...
Geraint Davies | 520 c73WH (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend surprised that although Conservative Members complain about individual areas of un...
Sian C James | 520 c73WH (Link to this contribution) I am not surprised; I think that is to be expected. The people of Wales know what is to be expected,...
Simon Hart | 520 c73WH (Link to this contribution) Are those brave young men and women the same brave young men and women who had to buy their own kit ...
Sian C James | 520 c72-3WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is correct. I was part of that lobbying group, and we worked hard to demonstrate how ...
Sian C James | 520 c73WH (Link to this contribution) We have heard such tales. I have been approached by families and relations, and I went to the bother...
Huw Irranca-Davies | 520 c72WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my regret that over the past few months we seem to have lost cross-party c...
Albert Owen | 520 c72WH (Link to this contribution) One of the big success stories of the defence budget in Wales, and the UK, is RAF Valley in my const...
Sian C James | 520 c72WH (Link to this contribution) I agree, and I congratulate my hon. Friend on that; it is important that places such as RAF Valley c...
Simon Hart | 520 c72WH (Link to this contribution) That is good stuff, but will the hon. Lady explain why over the past 13 years, two military establis...
Sian C James | 520 c72WH (Link to this contribution) As we understand, things have been—and are—very difficult. There was an alternative, and under a Lab...
Speaker | 520 c71WH (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sure that the hon. Lady will not allow herself to stray when responding to that interven...
Sian C James | 520 c71-2WH (Link to this contribution) Success breeds success, and if the scheme had gone ahead, we could be looking forward to a much brig...
Geraint Davies | 520 c71WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that a strategic investment of the magnitude that we are talking about wou...
Sian C James | 520 c71WH (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend—and I include the north Wales prison on my list. We are already witnessing t...
Speaker | 520 c71WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Before the hon. Lady answers, I remind hon. Members that we are debating defence spending in ...
Chris Ruane | 520 c71WH (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend include cancellation of the north Wales prison on that list?
Simon Hart | 520 c79WH (Link to this contribution) It is depressing for the second time in a fortnight to listen to one or two Opposition hon. Members ...
Jonathan Edwards | 520 c77-9WH (Link to this contribution) Diolch, Mr Gray; it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I congratulate the hon. Member f...
Madeleine Moon | 520 c76WH (Link to this contribution) I am extremely pleased to see my colleague from the Select Committee on Defence here today and I pay...
John Glen | 520 c76WH (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. I have a great deal of respect for her and her knowledge...
John Glen | 520 c76WH (Link to this contribution) Yes, but this will be the last time; I have nearly finished my speech.
Huw Irranca-Davies | 520 c76WH (Link to this contribution) I worry that what we have here is a softening up. The hon. Gentleman serves on the Defence Committee...
John Glen | 520 c77WH (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. Obviously, not being the Minister, I do not have th...
John Glen | 520 c76WH (Link to this contribution) No, I shall make a little more progress and come back to the hon. Gentleman in a minute. If the bes...
Alun Michael | 520 c75WH (Link to this contribution) I am a little puzzled about the decision. What the hon. Gentleman refers to was clearly decided—he i...
Speaker | 520 c74WH (Link to this contribution) Order. A large number of people are trying to catch my eye. I intend to call the Front-Bench speaker...
John Glen | 520 c74WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate, Mr Gray, and it is a pleasure to serv...
Geraint Davies | 520 c75WH (Link to this contribution) The question was asked: where is the hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Alun Cairns)? Given that thi...
John Glen | 520 c75WH (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I understand from colleagues that my hon. Friend is...
Huw Irranca-Davies | 520 c74-5WH (Link to this contribution) I appreciate the fact that the hon. Gentleman is taking part in the debate. It is important to have ...
John Glen | 520 c75WH (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I am confident that my hon. Friend the Minister wil...
Simon Hart | 520 c81WH (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that it took such a long time to give way to the hon. Gentleman—it is nothing personal.
Simon Hart | 520 c81WH (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for his intervention. Let me turn briefly to St Athan. It is not my normal hab...
Simon Hart | 520 c81WH (Link to this contribution) Like my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (John Glen), I am not, sadly, in possession of the diar...
Lord Robathan | 520 c80WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a very powerful case. The figure is not fallacious; the MOD budget was proj...
Lord Robathan | 520 c80-1WH (Link to this contribution) It is not drivel. My hon. Friend the Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart)...
Simon Hart | 520 c80WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will be pleased that I am able to quote. The black hole of £38 billion in unfunde...
Chris Bryant | 520 c80WH (Link to this contribution) I had almost given up on the hon. Gentleman, but now I am on my feet I am grateful to him for giving...
Simon Hart | 520 c80WH (Link to this contribution) The choices are almost too tempting. Who was first? I believe the hon. Member for Rhondda was the pa...
Chris Ruane | 520 c80WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Simon Hart | 520 c80WH (Link to this contribution) No. It is simply not possible to have this conversation as if the UK economy did not exist. We have ...
Geraint Davies | 520 c80WH (Link to this contribution) Is it important today to back the deficit and cuts generally, ignoring the difference between invest...
Simon Hart | 520 c80WH (Link to this contribution) I could not disagree more, the point I made about Castlemartin is valid in this context. Of course I...
Simon Hart | 520 c79-80WH (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. He troubles me, because, surely, defence of the rea...
Lord Robathan | 520 c92WH (Link to this contribution) This is the first Westminster Hall debate to which I have contributed in the past five years. It is ...
Wayne David | 520 c70WH (Link to this contribution) On the defence technical college, does my hon. Friend agree that it is bizarre that, at a time when ...
Madeleine Moon | 520 c73WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend says that the people of Wales know what to expect. Yesterday, I looked at the part of...
Geraint Davies | 520 c79WH (Link to this contribution) I am bemused. Surely the hon. Gentleman should be calling for greater investment on behalf of his co...
John Glen | 520 c75-6WH (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention. No doubt the Minister will want to deal with ...
Subjects
Defence
Defence equipment
Employment
Expenditure
Procurement
Wales
MOD St Athan
Link
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