Defence

I will just make a bit of progress first, keen as the right hon. Gentleman is. That will result i...

If the Secretary of State is serious, can I ask him why next year, if we exclude the Ukraine fund...

It does not.

It does.

No, it does not. The outcome from the defence budget, which must be the basis upon which the righ...

It does not.

I know that the right hon. Gentleman wants to continue this debate, but the fact is that it does ...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I will not for the moment, because this point has been discussed ad infinitum. In any case, we ar...

Has the Secretary of State not just confirmed that the amount of money in the budget designated f...

No, I still have not confirmed that because, before the extra half a billion, if we take the outc...

Will the Secretary of State give way on that point?

I think the right hon. Gentleman will want me to complete this section. I would be interested to ...

Rather than Labour Members trying to poke holes in this commitment, would it not be better if the...

My hon. Friend has pre-empted a passage a little later in my speech, in which I suggest that thos...

Why does the Secretary of State think that Paul Johnson, in an article on Monday 29 April, said:<...

The hon. Gentleman will be interested to know that the way this is presented is entirely the usua...

The Secretary of State is doing, like last time he came out on this debate, his used-car salesman...

The way the right hon. Gentleman tries to represent it is simply not true. If it were meaningless...

The Secretary of State is making a really important point. Without sounding too academic, do we a...

It is true—my hon. Friend will know this as well as or better than me—that in each generation the...

The Secretary of State is making a good case. Does he agree that, as this extra money is availabl...

I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend. It is incredibly important that we develop—or, rath...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I have been quite generous; I will make a little bit of progress.

That is why this Conserva...

My right hon. Friend has compellingly described the current situation as moving from post-war to ...

My right hon. Friend makes an excellent point. One issue we face is that if you are not Iranian o...

I know that the Secretary of State’s personal commitment to Ukraine is second to none. Does he ag...

My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct. That is precisely the point, and that is exactly why ...

It’s the way you tell them.

This is a serious issue, and I am surprised by that sort of attitude. I want to ask, because it i...

If I heard the Secretary of State correctly, a few minutes ago he said that we have now gifted al...

As my right hon. Friend will realise, it is not a move I have taken easily. There is a balance to...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I will make a little progress, if I may.

We have pledged this half a billion pounds extra, ...

I very much welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to defence and the extra money for the bu...

I certainly do agree: all parts of the United Kingdom have a very important role to play, especia...

It is true that both sides of the House strongly back the nuclear deterrent at the moment, if my ...

I am pleased to reassure my right hon. Friend from this Front Bench that no such delay would be c...

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way, and I can offer him the assurance that th...

You heard it here first, Madam Deputy Speaker. I warmly welcome that commitment, which was not av...

Can we be clear that, as was kindly referenced by the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir ...

The right hon. Gentleman wants to relitigate the past, but I think we all agree that we cannot do...

I appreciate my right hon. Friend’s desire to look forward rather than back but, just for the rec...

I will be as diplomatic as possible: the Liberal Democrats asked us to investigate a range of opt...

The Secretary of State mentioned the Command Paper. Page 89, in paragraph 10, refers to

“pr...

I should point out that there are a wide number of differences for us, because within Nato—this r...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I am a little concerned about not giving others an opportunity to contribute, but I will allow th...

Was the Secretary of State not a member of the Government, and indeed chairman of the Conservativ...

I think the right hon. Gentleman will now understand why I was so pleased to trounce the Liberal ...

As I am sure my right hon. Friend knows, the Royal Navy’s radars are made in Cowes on the Isle of...

Before the Secretary of State comes in, I am slightly conscious that 13 Back Benchers have indica...

I will be less generous with interventions and will rattle through the remaining important conten...

I welcome this defence debate in Government time. The defence and security of Britain is an incre...

The hon. Member for Leeds North West (Alex Sobel) has done really good work with me on the all-pa...

I will come on to the £75 billion in a bit, but the hon. Gentleman asked about Ukraine. The Gover...

I endorse what the right hon. Gentleman is saying and echo his support for the Government’s backi...

I agree with the hon. Gentleman only to a point. In his speech to the House, the Defence Secretar...

I very much agree with the right hon. Gentleman that defence has to be a consensual matter. All t...

We share the ambition to hit 2.5%. Our commitment to 2.5% is total. We will do it in our own way ...

The right hon. Gentleman is extremely generous to give way again. There is a very important diffe...

I am afraid there is nothing cast-iron about the figures, the plan or, indeed, the proposals for ...

The present Defence Secretary was chair of the Conservative party until 2016. Is it not also a fa...

I said a moment ago that Governments and Ministers are judged by what they do, not by what they s...

rose—

rose—

rose—

I will give way to two of his colleagues who have not yet intervened on me, and then I am sure I ...

Governments should be judged not by what they say, but by what they do. The right hon. Gentleman ...

The right hon. Gentleman knows the difficulty of serving in this House and debating defence issue...

Is there not a simple problem here, though? Labour may be committing to a defence review, but tha...

I think the hon. Gentleman needs to have a word with those on his own Front Bench, because the De...

On that point, will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I am finishing off now; the hon. Gentleman will have his chance to speak.

Labour’s plan wil...

I call the Chair of the Defence Committee.

6.56 pm

As both Front Benchers have made clear, we are all in this place indebted to the hard work of our...

I call the SNP spokesperson.

7.7 pm

I am glad to be in the Chamber for this debate. It is an important debate; those of us on the Def...

I think the term is “other ranks.”

Let me come to that in a second, but in common parlance, I think they are always called the “ordi...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about that close engagement with the other ranks. He might...

I am grateful for that opportunity, but I have previously declined it for various reasons. I will...

I spent 27 years of commissioned service in the British Army. The hon. Member does the British Ar...

I recall the hon. Gentleman chairing the Armed Forces Bill Committee during the pandemic, when we...

Order. Before I call Mark Francois, I remind colleagues that there is a certain pressure on time,...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to participate in this important and timely debat...

Is it also the case that these aircraft have considerable aircraft life left in them? It is not a...

The right hon. Gentleman, a former Armed Forces Minister like me, is absolutely right. Many of th...

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that that is also bad news for the defence budget? Those cont...

Another former Armed Forces Minister is right, and he will know that the effect of the dollar exc...

Order. There are 10 Members still seeking to speak. There is considerable expertise in the Chambe...

I am mindful of your dictum, Mr Deputy Speaker.

May I start by following up on the comments...

One of the points that we have made previously in the Defence Committee concerns support for the ...

What the hon. Gentleman refers to was just a manifestation of the running down of our Russia-watc...

I very much welcome this defence debate in Government time but, as we run out of time, I am remin...

We are obviously living in a much more dangerous world and preparing for a potential war in Europ...

Earlier this afternoon I counted over 50 right hon. and hon. Members of the Labour party alone pa...

Order. I will have to put a 10-minute time limit on speeches after the next speaker to get everyb...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. May I begin by putting on the record the whole House’s thanks to th...

Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that there is a balance? Clearly, one would like everything ...

I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman seems to be talking down the UK defence industry. He talks abo...

When you took the Chair some time ago, Mr Deputy Speaker, you observed that the House was stuffed...

It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for North Wiltshire (James Gray), and I pay tribute to ...

My constituency lies at the heart of one of the largest clusters of defence and aerospace manufac...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Filton and Bradley Stoke (Jack Lopresti), and othe...

It is a great privilege to speak in this debate. I am not a Minister—to echo the remarks of my ho...

Is the hon. Member aware of the Supacat range of vehicles, which operate in much the way that he ...

I am very aware of Supacat. I have visited the company, which is in the hon. Member’s neck of the...

Does the hon. Gentleman share the concerns that some of us have about Trump’s comments? He has sa...

It is not for me to endorse Trump in this Chamber, but what I will say is that to a certain exten...

It is a genuine pleasure to follow my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Bracknell (James Sun...

I call the Opposition spokesperson.

9.38 pm

May I begin by welcoming the debate? As the hon. Members for Harwich and North Essex (Sir Bernard...

I am very critical of Wedgetail, but, just as a fact, on Ajax, the initial operating capability f...

I accept that fact. If I said the next decade, that was not what I meant to say.

The Public...

First, I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

This h...