UK Parliament / Open data

Strategic Defence and Security Review

Backbench debate on Thursday, 26 January 2012, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom. The answering member was Lord Hammond of Runnymede.
Unallotted backbench debate (part two). Motion lapsed.
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
539 c457-522 
Session
2010-12
Department
Ministry of Defence
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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Proceeding contributions
James Gray | 539 c457 (Link to this contribution) I, too, welcome the fact that the Backbench Business Committee has found time for this debate, but d...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 539 c457 (Link to this contribution) I would hope that this issue could be debated both in Back-Bench time and in Government time, becaus...

Show all contributions (151)
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 539 c457 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House has considered the matter of progress on defence reform and the Strat...
Andrew Murrison | 539 c457 (Link to this contribution) I accept everything that my right hon. Friend says about the pressure on time today, but does he obs...
Bob Stewart | 539 c465 (Link to this contribution) If the move is to make the CDS the commander-in-chief, and therefore in charge of the Army, with the...
Julian Brazier | 539 c464-5 (Link to this contribution) I will not respond to the right hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East (Mr Brown), because I am co...
Julian Brazier | 539 c465-6 (Link to this contribution) I thoroughly agree with my hon. Friend. I was about to come to that as my fourth and final point, bu...
Nicholas Brown | 539 c462-3 (Link to this contribution) I will come on to deal with that precise point. I have no quarrel with the hon. Gentleman for making...
Daniel Byles | 539 c462 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with great interest. Does the right hon. Gentleman not agree that a long-term strateg...
Nicholas Brown | 539 c463-4 (Link to this contribution) I cannot give way because of the rules on these things. NATO is a mutual defence pact. It is a fund...
Bernard Jenkin | 539 c463 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Nicholas Brown | 539 c462 (Link to this contribution) I remember giving way to the hon. Gentleman the last time I spoke in a debate of this character, bac...
Nicholas Brown | 539 c462 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman presumably hopes that that will be the case in the future. However, I challenge h...
Julian Lewis | 539 c462 (Link to this contribution) Conservative Members are nothing but consistent on this issue. I remind the right hon. Gentleman tha...
Nicholas Brown | 539 c461-2 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the Chairman of the Select Committee in this debate. I wholeheartedly ide...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 539 c460-1 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I do. Embarrassingly, I was fully consulted by the French Government on the introduction of the...
Thomas Docherty | 539 c460 (Link to this contribution) Does the Chairman of the Defence Committee agree that there was insufficient consultation with our c...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 539 c460 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is, as always, helpful. I hope that he will now address the issue on which ther...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c460 (Link to this contribution) I am tempted to say that it is even a grotesque way, Mr Deputy Speaker. In the spirit of my right ho...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 539 c460 (Link to this contribution) I can quite see my right hon. Friend answering, ““Well, this is a funny way to go about it,”” but I ...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 539 c457-9 (Link to this contribution) At the moment the Opposition Benches do look rather empty, but let us hope that things will change. ...
Bob Russell | 539 c472 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c472 (Link to this contribution) I cannot resist taking one last intervention.
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c471-2 (Link to this contribution) The Gurkhas remain a very important part of the British armed forces. I think that my hon. Friend un...
Hugh Bayley | 539 c470 (Link to this contribution) Were the capital programmes that the right hon. Gentleman's Government inherited supported or oppose...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c470 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, who will perhaps explain his way out of that.
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c470 (Link to this contribution) I am obviously not privy to the advice given to Ministers in the previous Government by their defenc...
Lord Walney | 539 c470 (Link to this contribution) To aid this debate, could the Secretary of State just remind the House whether his party in oppositi...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c470 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make some progress. Does it matter that Labour's programme was stuffed full of projec...
Damian Collins | 539 c471 (Link to this contribution) The large number of redundancies in the Gurkhas has inevitably caused concern among them and in my c...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c470-1 (Link to this contribution) What I say to the hon. Gentleman is that we face the situation that we face. We came into office wit...
Hugh Bayley | 539 c470 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
James Morris | 539 c469 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State agree that, in times of economic austerity, it is important that we deve...
Madeleine Moon | 539 c467-8 (Link to this contribution) It is vital that the House addresses the issue of defence in relation to Scottish independence. I ho...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 539 c467 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way and particularly for the extraordinarily good work tha...
Madeleine Moon | 539 c466-7 (Link to this contribution) I fear that the strategic defence and security review was a cost-cutting exercise rather than an exe...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c469 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will know that the Government took a decision to give a large slug of parliamentary t...
James Gray | 539 c468 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend remember—perhaps he would do so nostalgically—the days when we had at leas...
Speaker | 539 c478 (Link to this contribution) Order. One standing up, one sitting down, not two standing at once.
Jim Murphy | 539 c478 (Link to this contribution) As the right hon. Gentleman knows, I am echoing the assessment and the assertion of the all-party Se...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c478 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, Mr Deputy Speaker. The right hon. Gentleman says he is giving way, then stays standing u...
Andrew Murrison | 539 c477 (Link to this contribution) The shadow Chancellor is on record saying that he accepts all the Government's spending cuts. Howeve...
Jim Murphy | 539 c477-8 (Link to this contribution) I have learned from experience that it would never be wise to misrepresent the words of the shadow C...
Rory Stewart | 539 c476 (Link to this contribution) Will the shadow Minister please explain what he proposes to do to achieve a stable, effective Govern...
Jim Murphy | 539 c476 (Link to this contribution) I am sure the hon. Gentleman will appreciate that I said right at the beginning that I am keen to ha...
Tobias Ellwood | 539 c476 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that the right hon. Gentleman was not in post during the relevant period, but does he r...
Jim Murphy | 539 c476-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has great and varied experience, but I think he will fairly accept that the urgen...
Jim Murphy | 539 c476 (Link to this contribution) I anticipated that the hon. Gentleman would seek to catch my eye and I will gladly give way.
Jim Murphy | 539 c475-6 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to speak in this annual debate. The debate was initiated by the Select Co...
James Gray | 539 c475 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way before he moves on?
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c475 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way to my hon. Friend a second time, as I am conscious that a large number people wi...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 539 c474 (Link to this contribution) First, I should apologise for being unable to be present at the beginning of the debate due to other...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c474 (Link to this contribution) I can reassure my right hon. and learned Friend on that point. RAF Leuchars is not so much closing a...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c474 (Link to this contribution) I thought that might provoke my right hon. and learned Friend.
Bob Russell | 539 c472 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State accept that morale is very important, and if our soldiers, sailors and a...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c472-4 (Link to this contribution) I reassure my hon. Friend that I absolutely agree that morale is very important. I shall come to mor...
Jim Murphy | 539 c481 (Link to this contribution) I know I am testing your patience, Mr Deputy Speaker, but out of good manners I will give way to my ...
Thomas Docherty | 539 c481 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is being most generous, as are you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Is he aware of the sheer...
Jim Murphy | 539 c481 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has campaigned long and hard on RAF Leuchars, as has the right hon. and learned Membe...
Mike Crockart | 539 c481-4 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to speak in today's debate. I should declare my interest as a Member for a...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 539 c480 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has spoken at some length and with some eloquence about the uncertainties t...
Thomas Docherty | 539 c481 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Jim Murphy | 539 c480 (Link to this contribution) They are almost represented by my hon. Friend the Member for Edmonton (Mr Love), who is almost sitti...
Jim Murphy | 539 c480 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. and learned Gentleman makes a compelling argument. I look forward to being part of th...
Julian Lewis | 539 c479 (Link to this contribution) I thank the shadow Secretary of State for giving way so courteously. In his list of commitments, the...
Jim Murphy | 539 c479 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Barrow and Furness (John Woodcock) is over my right shoulder, and I wo...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c478 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is not going to wriggle out by putting it in an historical context. A tranc...
Jim Murphy | 539 c478-9 (Link to this contribution) It is ironic and peculiar that the current Secretary of State is seeking a commitment from the offic...
Andrew Murrison | 539 c498-9 (Link to this contribution) Well, the rate will decline—of course it will. We gained some insight into how the disconnect betwe...
Jeremy Lefroy | 539 c499 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that it is somewhat ironic that those calling for a European army and unit...
Andrew Murrison | 539 c498 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not think it is correct. America has made it clear that over the spending period it will ha...
Tobias Ellwood | 539 c496 (Link to this contribution) I was hoping to resist the temptation to intervene, but I want to back up my hon. Friend the Ministe...
Thomas Docherty | 539 c496-7 (Link to this contribution) I am going to continue with my speech, because it is my time that I am sacrificing. The hon. Gentlem...
Andrew Murrison | 539 c497 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will also remember that Bernard Gray was a special adviser to his party. In that ...
Thomas Docherty | 539 c497 (Link to this contribution) I think I am right in saying that the US is still increasing its defence spending, not cutting it. I...
Andrew Murrison | 539 c497 (Link to this contribution) I declare my interest as a member of the reserve forces. I congratulate the Backbench Business Comm...
Lord Beamish | 539 c497 (Link to this contribution) But do I not remember the hon. Gentleman arguing from the Front Bench for more ships, larger armies ...
Thomas Docherty | 539 c494-5 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. The Times paints a disturbing picture today. We on the Defence Committee an...
Thomas Docherty | 539 c495 (Link to this contribution) The Minister shakes his head. Perhaps it would help him if I were to quote the commander of the Ital...
Gerald Howarth | 539 c495 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his kind tribute, although I am not sure whether it wil...
Lord Walney | 539 c491 (Link to this contribution) On the risk that has been created around renewal, the alternatives to Trident review, to which my ri...
James Gray | 539 c491-3 (Link to this contribution) If I may be forgiven, I shall not dwell on the welcome recommitment made by the hon. Member for Barr...
Thomas Docherty | 539 c493-4 (Link to this contribution) It is an absolute pleasure to take part in the debate, and I commend our Select Committee Chairman, ...
Madeleine Moon | 539 c494 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman aware that Admiral Sir Trevor Soar, Commander-in-Chief, Fleet, said in a speec...
Lord Walney | 539 c491 (Link to this contribution) Okay. If he wants to write and make the position clear at a later stage, that is absolutely fine.
Lord Walney | 539 c490 (Link to this contribution) Oh, there are no wind-ups. Perhaps the Minister could find time to intervene in the short time remai...
Bob Stewart | 539 c490 (Link to this contribution) To slightly corrupt the saying, if we wish to avoid war, we should prepare for it and have the means...
Lord Walney | 539 c490 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is quite right—he put it far more succinctly than I did and I am grateful to him ...
Thomas Docherty | 539 c489 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is demonstrating that he is probably the most knowledgeable Member on the issue of th...
Lord Walney | 539 c490 (Link to this contribution) That is a very important point with which I shall deal at some length in a moment. Suffice it to say...
Edward Leigh | 539 c488-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister. We pay tribute to him and to his colleagues in the Ministry of Defenc...
Lord Walney | 539 c489 (Link to this contribution) I am not quite sure how to follow that quotation, so I shall confine myself to saying how moving rem...
Andrew Murrison | 539 c487 (Link to this contribution) It is important to get this matter right in the context of the Falklands, given the activity in Buen...
Edward Leigh | 539 c487-8 (Link to this contribution) I accept some of what my hon. Friend says. However, I pray in aid the recent United Kingdom National...
Gerald Howarth | 539 c488 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend raises concerns that are widespread around the country, particularly in the light of ...
Hugh Bayley | 539 c486 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has made her point well. I would like us not only to make bilateral agreements with o...
Edward Leigh | 539 c486-7 (Link to this contribution) I believe that the world is a more dangerous place than it has ever been during my time in Parliamen...
Bernard Jenkin | 539 c487 (Link to this contribution) The importance of aircraft carriers, with their carrier-borne air defence for the fleet and carrier-...
Edward Leigh | 539 c487 (Link to this contribution) That is precisely the point that I was going to make next. If there were a war with Iran or Argentin...
Daniel Byles | 539 c484 (Link to this contribution) On those figures, does the hon. Gentleman not accept, however, that the international situation was ...
Hugh Bayley | 539 c484-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes some fair comments, but the Government have not established that the level ...
Madeleine Moon | 539 c486 (Link to this contribution) One way to resolve the problem of sharing capacity would be to have an agreement with Luxembourg, a ...
Bob Stewart | 539 c520-1 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for North East Hampshire (Mr Arbuthnot), the Chairman...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 539 c521-2 (Link to this contribution) With the leave of the House, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will simply do a brief analysis of what has emerge...
Richard Drax | 539 c515-7 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood). I, too, woul...
Tobias Ellwood | 539 c513-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to catch your eye, Mr Deputy Speaker. Like others, I declare my interest as a member o...
Penny Mordaunt | 539 c512-3 (Link to this contribution) If someone had an argument about the sovereignty of an eastern state, I am quite sure we would have ...
John Glen | 539 c519 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, but what would happen in a business if such inventory could not be accounted for so that for...
John Glen | 539 c518-9 (Link to this contribution) As a member of the Defence Committee, I welcome this opportunity to contribute to the debate. Defenc...
Bob Russell | 539 c517-8 (Link to this contribution) As the newest member of the Defence Committee, I congratulate the Chairman, my right hon. Friend the...
Speaker | 539 c519-20 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind Members that the wind-up by James Arbuthnot will start no later than five to 6.
Edward Leigh | 539 c512 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend recall that the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, referred recently to the...
Oliver Colvile | 539 c507-8 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me in this debate. I congratulate the Chairman of the Defe...
Christopher Pincher | 539 c506-7 (Link to this contribution) It is always a great pleasure to follow my coalitionist hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (...
Oliver Colvile | 539 c508-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister. I was somewhat dismayed earlier this week when I heard the news about the Def...
Lord Robathan | 539 c508 (Link to this contribution) I do not have the opportunity of winding up today, but I can say that we welcome my hon. Friend's of...
Julian Lewis | 539 c504-5 (Link to this contribution) I, too, congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for North East Hampshire (Mr Arbuthnot) on init...
Speaker | 539 c504 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am reducing the time limit on speeches to seven minutes.
Julian Lewis | 539 c506 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for those very generous comments, but we are very short of time, so I am now go...
Gerald Howarth | 539 c505 (Link to this contribution) Prompted by my hon. Friend, I am delighted to say, as he will know, that in the SDSR and in our Trid...
Penny Mordaunt | 539 c510-2 (Link to this contribution) I start by declaring my interest as a member of the reserve forces. Are we sufficiently well defend...
Bernard Jenkin | 539 c509-10 (Link to this contribution) The strategic defence and security review is having a significant long-term impact on the UK's defen...
Rory Stewart | 539 c500-2 (Link to this contribution) The greatest damage to our nation over the past 10 years has not been done by the enemy: it has been...
Speaker | 539 c500 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for notice of her point of order, and for contacting the Member's office. Righ...
Lyn Brown | 539 c499 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have informed the office of the hon. Member for Harrow Eas...
Speaker | 539 c499 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman's time is up.
Andrew Murrison | 539 c499 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister. Recent activity in the south Atlantic has shown us that the threat from a Gove...
Gerald Howarth | 539 c499 (Link to this contribution) I assure my hon. Friend that whenever I represent Her Majesty's Government in Brussels I clearly mak...
Andrew Murrison | 539 c499 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. It may not be by chance that the Germans are chief among those...
Jeremy Lefroy | 539 c503-4 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right, as always. I believe that in the United States it is at least 30...
Andrew Murrison | 539 c503 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that not only are our reserve forces head to head cheaper than members of ...
Jeremy Lefroy | 539 c502-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart)...
Speaker | 539 c461 (Link to this contribution) I remind hon. Members that there is an eight-minute limit on speeches.
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c469-70 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Part of the answer to the questions raised by the hon. Member fo...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c469 (Link to this contribution) I agree. Today's debate is about the reform of defence. That reform is for a purpose. Sometimes, am...
Jim Murphy | 539 c478 (Link to this contribution) I will happily give way, because I anticipate that the right hon. Gentleman's fidgeting—
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 539 c468 (Link to this contribution) Let me begin by paying tribute to Signaller Ian Sartorius-Jones of 20th Armoured Brigade Headquarter...
Hugh Bayley | 539 c484 (Link to this contribution) Defence debates in this House are best when Members stick to national security, rather than party po...
Jim Murphy | 539 c479 (Link to this contribution) I have given way more often than I probably should have, Mr Deputy Speaker, given that I am sure you...
Thomas Docherty | 539 c495-6 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the Minister. He is obviously very clever, because he has led me straight on t...
Subjects
Armed forces
Cost effectiveness
Defence
Deployment
National security
Strategic Defence and Security Review
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