Defence Expenditure

I am interested in the chart that my right hon. Friend is describing, which appears as a corrigen...

It is significant, and it is indeed included on the chart. The only reason why I did not mention ...

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that some of the money that is counted in the 0.7% official dev...

We did not find a hard and fast case of double counting, but we noticed in the past that there ar...

We want four, or we’ll show the Government the door.

As always, I am delighted to be trumped by my hon. Friend in that direction. That is an absolutel...

Yes, the threshold is important for a whole number of reasons, and we want to look at the overall...

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely spot on, and of course that is what underlies my remarks a...

May we forbear on the nomenclature of the civil service—the so-called efficiency savings? Efficie...

The right hon. Gentleman perfectly exhibits the cross-party basis on which we try to find agreeme...

Order. It may help Members to know that I hope to finish this debate at around 3 o’clock. It is n...

I will not delay everyone for long. Although the Committee found that the Government’s accounting...

It was just outside the constituency of the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs Moon) that Her Majesty’...

Will the hon. Gentleman tell me in which year under a Labour Government expenditure fell below 2%...

The trouble is that under Labour Governments we always have wars and things so we have to keep sp...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

If the right hon. Gentleman will forgive me—[Interruption.] If the right hon. Gentleman will forg...

Order. The hon. Gentleman is not giving way.

Before the right hon. Gentleman leaps in to enter into a party political discussion of the matter...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I would really rather not. We have not got very long—[Interruption.]

On a point of order, Mr Bone. As we are having a debate on defence, it is perfectly proper for th...

The right hon. Gentleman is very experienced and knows full well that that was in no way a point ...

I am most grateful.

Will the hon. Gentleman now give way?

No, if the right hon. Gentleman will forgive me. We have a short debate and I have one or two thi...

Give way, then!

I have the strongest respect—[Laughter.] Allow me to finish the sentence. I have the strongest re...

rose—

I am happy to give way.

May I thank the hon. Gentleman, my friend from the Committee, for giving way? I point out that in...

I am most grateful and greatly reassured by the right hon. Gentleman’s commitment both to Trident...

I know this is a very important debate and I have six Back-Bench Members who want to catch my eye...

Thank you, Mr Bone. I will try to be as brief as possible because I also hope to catch the Chair’...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone. I commend the Chair of the Defence Co...

It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Bone. It is always a challenge to follow my...

I apologise for interrupting, but as former Ministers in the room and the Chair of the Defence Co...

I thank the Minister for that. The end of my sentence was, “unless appropriate hedging is put in ...

It always is.

While I appreciate that it probably is, I do not think anyone could have anticipated the likely d...

Is it not even more significant that, in giving this order directly to Boeing, the MOD did not se...

I totally agree with my right hon. Friend. With the P-8A and even the F-35, we get only 20% of th...

And the Apache.

And the Apache. There are significant concerns about British manufacturing capabilities within th...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone.

I was going to talk about the 2...

May I ask whether the hon. Gentleman is in favour of continuing to produce Type 26 global combat ...

I am in favour of fulfilling the promise made in 2013 to have 13 ships built on the Clyde. If the...

It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Bone.

This debate is about what sort ...

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone. I thank the right hon. Member ...

I thank hon. Members for their participation. Because we have run over a little bit—I thought it ...

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone. I add my voice to those congra...

I thank the hon. Gentleman—he might even be a friend—for giving way. I repeat: a primary role of ...

I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s repetition and think that my hon. Friend the Member for Stirlin...

It is a pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone. We have had an extraordin...

Where did that come from?

Well, that is the calculation that I have been given by my researchers.

As I said, we have ...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Rosindell—I hope I get your name right; I g...

Does the Minister accept, though, that the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government, the SNP,...

Perhaps the referendum in Scotland, when the Scottish people decided to stay part of the United K...

Will the Minister give way?

No, I have given the hon. Gentleman an opportunity to intervene and he has had plenty of time.