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THE SPEAKER: Order, order. Questions to the Secretary of State for | :00:00. | :00:13. | |
Defence. Mr John Nicholson. Question number one, Mr Speaker, Sir. | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
I had an introductory call with Jim mat it is last Monday, we discussed | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
the joint leadership in NATO, including modernising the alliance | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
and encouraging all members to meet the 2% spending commitment. On | :00:28. | :00:30. | |
Friday President Trump confirmed he's 100% committed to NATO. We also | :00:31. | :00:36. | |
plan to work together to accelerate the defeat of Daesh in Iraq and | :00:37. | :00:43. | |
Syria and I look forward to meeting Secretary Mattis at the meeting in a | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
fortnight. The new American President supports | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
the torture of prisoners of war. We do not, nor does the new Secretary | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
of State. So can I ask that the Secretary of State here doesn't | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
reiterate the Government's position but instead tells us why he thinks | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
that a proponent of torture is an appropriate recipient of state | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
visit? I think my right honourable friend, the Prime Minister, made the | :01:10. | :01:11. | |
Government's position absolutely clear. We do not condone the use of | :01:12. | :01:18. | |
torture in operations, nor does the new American Secretary of Defence, | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
Jim Mattis and, as I understand it, the President of the United States | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
has made it clear that he will be guided by those in his Cabinet who, | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
on this issue, are taking a different view. | :01:31. | :01:37. | |
Sir Gerald Howarth. In his discussions, did my right honourable | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
friend mention Chancellor Merkel's call for the remaining EU 27 to | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
engage in closer military cooperation? And would he agree with | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
me that such cooperation, if it were to be within the confines of the EU | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
alone would be extremely dangerous and damaging to NATO and that that | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
cooperation from European countries should be in the context of NATO and | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
not the EU? Yes, I agree with my right honourable friend and at the | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
Warsaw summit in July last year, all members of NATO agreed that we'd | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
improve the collaboration between NATO and the European Union, | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
particularly in areas like hybrid warfare and strategic communications | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
and EU ministers have subsequently resisted the call for unnecessary | :02:24. | :02:26. | |
duplication with what NATO is already doing. | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. When countries in this world announce | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
xenophobic and destabling policies does the honourable member think the | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
right thing to do is asneeze We make -- is appease. If the | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
honourable lady is referring to the United States, as the United States' | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
deepest and long-standing allie, of course we make our views known to | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
the United States and our Prime Minister was the first foreign | :02:55. | :02:57. | |
leader to meet the new President on Friday. We'll continue to offer the | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
United States our candid advice. Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister's | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
securing the Prime Minister's 100% support for NATO and also General | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
Mattis's support is encouraging. Would my right honourable friend not | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
agree with me that some of the less than helpful remarks the Prime | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
Minister may have made about NATO is a useful wake-up call to NATO. We | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
need to modernise some aspects of the administration and say to the | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
NATO partners, they have to step up to the mark and pay their 2% like we | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
do? Exactly. The new President's called for members of NATO to fulfil | :03:33. | :03:39. | |
the commitments that we agreed and we and the United States agreed back | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
in the Wales summit in 2014 and a number of other NATO members still | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
have a long way to go to meet the 2% target. We also agree with the new | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
President that we need to continue to modernise NATO to make it | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
effective as a response and as a deterrent. -Breakfast Thank you, Mr | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
Speaker. What is the Defence Secretary's attitude to the prospect | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
of the US conducting joint operations with Russia in Syria, as | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
the President's floated? Well, the United States and Russia | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
already have an understanding on operations in Syria that they'll | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
deconflict their air operations and our own aircraft where they are in | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
similar areas are covered by that understanding. We have seen that at | :04:25. | :04:31. | |
the present time, no plans from the American Government inside the | :04:32. | :04:34. | |
coalition to cooperate more fully with Russia. | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
Mr Speaker, given the covenant for the Baltic states now is extended to | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
Romania, given Russia's direct threat to that country, what | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
reassurance can the Secretary of Defence give to the Baltic states | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
who're nervous at the moment about an assertive Russia. | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
We agreed at Warsaw to deploy troops to all three of the Baltic states | :05:01. | :05:12. | |
and Britain will be leading the contribution to the American | :05:13. | :05:15. | |
battalion deployed in Poland in order to deter Russia from any kind | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
of further aggression towards those countries. | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
This weekend, Mr Speaker, we have been shocked and appalled by the US | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
President's decision to impose a blanket travel ban on citizens from | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
seven Muslim majority nations. To do this on Friday, Holocaust Memorial | :05:38. | :05:40. | |
Day only adds to the horror and outrage that we feel. Has the | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
Secretary of State made clear to his US counterpart that there is no | :05:45. | :05:48. | |
place for such measures in the fight against terrorism, and that such | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
actions only inflame tensions and risk losing valuable allies, such as | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
Iraq, who're with us in the fight against Daesh? | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
I think the honourable lady and indeed the House may have the | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
opportunity to discuss this matter a little later on when a statement is | :06:05. | :06:11. | |
made for form Ali about inGration policy -- formally. Let me be very | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
clear. We look forward to working with the new United States | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
administration on the battle against Daesh. -- about immigration. Many | :06:21. | :06:31. | |
have been embarrass and ashamed by our Prime Minister who, for all her | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
rhetoric on Britain leading the world, decided to hold Trump's hand | :06:37. | :06:43. | |
instead of holding him to account. Her belated and limp reply of, we do | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
not agree, was pathetic, especially compared with Chancellor Merkel who | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
spelt out that, even the necessary determined fight against terrorism | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
does not justify placing people of a certain origin or belief under | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
general suspicion. Can the Secretary of State assure the House that if | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
President Trump issues defence related executive orders which | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
infringe international law or an affront to humanity, that the UK | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
Government's response will be prompt, robust and unequivocal? | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
My right honourable friend, the Prime Minister, conducted a very | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
prompt and successful visit to the United States and was able to secure | :07:30. | :07:36. | |
100% commitment to the NATO alliance from the new President and to work | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
with him on a number of the issues that we are dealing with jointly, | :07:41. | :07:43. | |
including the coalition against Daesh. | :07:44. | :07:55. | |
The Government and the Royal Navy provide support through a grant and | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
aid payment to the sea cadets paid to the marine society through a | :08:01. | :08:03. | |
memorandum of understanding which sets out further support with regard | :08:04. | :08:06. | |
to the provision of personnel accommodation and training. | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
I thank the Minister for His response. Ied that pleasure of | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
meeting the Padstow sea cadets and their children and they do fantastic | :08:17. | :08:24. | |
work there -- and their chairmen. Transport costs and tuition fees are | :08:25. | :08:38. | |
costs. It's currently ?10 million. The MOU between the Royal Navy and | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
the MSCC which is currently under review will continue to ensure there | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
is support for the sea cadets and I'm more than happen Foy make sure | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
issues will continue. Female sea cadets make up just a | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
third of all cadets, what steps is the Secretary of State taking to | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
encourage more females to join? Well, it must be said actually that | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
the female representation in sea cadets is higher than it is in the | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
Armed Forces. This is a matter that the Government takes very seriously | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
and we have set several targets to ensure that our Armed Forces are | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
viewed as being open to both men and women and will continue to be | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
pursued to be the case over years. Can't get more further from the sea | :09:26. | :09:32. | |
than Kettering, they're an example that other sea cadet organisations | :09:33. | :09:34. | |
should follow. Would my right honourable friend agree with me that | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
the sea cadets army squadrons and air cadets provide youngsters with | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
some of the best examples that they could follow in life? I think Milton | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
Keynes may be further from the sea than Kettering and we also have a | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
thriving sea cadet unit. I'm a great fan of the cadets, I started my | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
military life in the air cadets some 32 years ago. It's something that I | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
valued enormously and that's why I like to think that I'm one of the | :10:02. | :10:10. | |
greatest champion force s for the cadet forces. | :10:11. | :10:17. | |
I should like to answer this question. NATO agreed that security | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
depends both on how much we spend and how we spend it, all 28 allies | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
committed to meeting the defence investment pledge, the United | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
Kingdom already meets NATO's spending targets and will continue | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
to do so for the rest of this decade. I regularly encourage all | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
allies to similarly meet this commitment. | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
It's right NATO members all meet the 2% spending commitment which we make | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
sacrifices here in order to meet. In my right honourable friend's | :10:49. | :10:51. | |
discussions on spending and NATO deployments, has he met anyone who | :10:52. | :10:59. | |
believes deploying troops to a NATO allie is escalatory? They are combat | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
ready forces deployed but they're defensive in nature and a | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
proportionate response to deter Russian aggression in the region. | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
The only people who believe this deployment to be escalatory are | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
President Putin and the lead over the Labour Party. It's extraordinary | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
that the official leader of the opposition is not prepared to back | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
the deployment of British troops in Europe but now favours some kind of | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
demilitarised zone. With discussions in the EU over an | :11:30. | :11:37. | |
EU defence system, what steps is my honourable friend taking to ensure | :11:38. | :11:46. | |
that commitment to this new EU army don't contradict spending on defence | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
for our allies? There is no agreement on the proposal for any EU | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
army and we make clear that nothing should undermine NATO, which remains | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
the corner stone of European defence and we continue to press for closer | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
co-operation between the EU and NATO. It is a fact over that 18 of | :12:05. | :12:14. | |
the 22 EU members of NATO do not spend 2% and have much more to do to | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
enable NATO to face the threats it does. The Prime Minister played a | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
blinder last week with the president of the United States in stiffening | :12:26. | :12:35. | |
his sinews with regards to NATO. But President Trump's vacillation on | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
NATO exposes a weakness of NATO with regards to the countries that do not | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
pay that 2%. Can I urge my honourable friend to make every | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
effort to make sure the countries who are not paying that 2% | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
understand we can't always rely upon the United States. There we agree | :12:54. | :13:01. | |
with President Trump. Since making the defence investment pledge the | :13:02. | :13:04. | |
majority of allies have increased their spending, but it is still too | :13:05. | :13:12. | |
low. 19 of the NATO 28 spend less than 1.5% and five members of NATO | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
by no means the poorest, don't even spend 1%. We will continue with the | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
United States to encourage all allies to meet those spending | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
commitments. Will my honourable friend as well as encouraging our | :13:28. | :13:36. | |
NATO allies to maintain the 2% on spend they don't include items like | :13:37. | :13:43. | |
pension and administration costs, rather front line capability. Well, | :13:44. | :13:51. | |
the expenditure that is classified by NATO as meeting or not meeting | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
the 2% is something for NATO to judge against its own guidelines and | :13:58. | :14:04. | |
I notice our own Defence Select Committee commended the government's | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
commitment to defence and found our accounting criteria do fall within | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
exist bg NATO guidelines. But this is a matter for NATO to judge. Since | :14:16. | :14:23. | |
the world's summit, 22 NATO countries have increased in real | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
terms their defence spending, the 20 of them as a percentage of GDP. The | :14:29. | :14:37. | |
number of allies with spending on equipment and modernisation has | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
risen from eight to ten. Is the real risk not spending, but a move from | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
Trans-Atlantic solidarity, which the present president is at risk of | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
moving forward. Of course we welcome the increases that have taken place | :14:54. | :15:01. | |
in defence spending. The Baton is moving the right way, but some | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
countries including quite wealthy countries are still a long way off | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
meeting the 2% target and in some cases the 20% car get. -- target. | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
This is a North Atlantic alliance and it is important to continue to | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
assure the United States that this alliance is as much of the interests | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
of United States as it of us here in Europe. We should hear from a | :15:31. | :15:38. | |
Lancashire knight. Thank you. Now that the United States of America | :15:39. | :15:45. | |
has become a less stable and reliable NATO partner, how pragmatic | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
is the 2% spending target? And what consideration has the Secretary of | :15:51. | :15:58. | |
State given to allocating more time for European defence or is European | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
defence simply not fashionable any more? So far as our partnership with | :16:03. | :16:10. | |
the United States, it is the broadest, deepest and most advanced | :16:11. | :16:13. | |
defence partnership in the world and my aim is to continues to strengthen | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
wit the new administration, particularly in the shared | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
programmes on the joint strike fighter aircraft and the | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
reinstatement of our maritime pa Trolle aircraft. -- patrol aircraft. | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
The president's remarks are I believe a wake up call to all of us | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
in Europe to make sure that when we make these commitments that we | :16:40. | :16:46. | |
honour them. I am sure the Secretary of State meant to congratulate wait | :16:47. | :16:49. | |
the honourable gentleman on his knighthood. But as he didn't I will | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
do so on hi behalf. The National Audit Office reports that the budget | :16:56. | :17:03. | |
will reach its peak in 2023 when massive and vital projects such as | :17:04. | :17:11. | |
F55 will reach their peak. Our NATO partners have a much more thorough | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
over site of procurement projects, something that can only be taken | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
here by the defence committee, what plans does he have to increase | :17:22. | :17:28. | |
oversight of these projects to meet the 2% target and that our | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
capability is delivered on time, on budget... I think he got the general | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
drift. We are obliged. The honourable gentleman knows that we | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
are increasing the equipment budget with a programme of ?180 billion of | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
spending over the next ten years and we have taken a number of steps to | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
improve the delivery of that programme to ensure that these | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
projects are delivered on time and to budget and we have of course | :17:58. | :18:05. | |
established the single source regulation office. Despite the | :18:06. | :18:12. | |
Government's huffing and puffing, it is clear that the government's | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence is more apparent than real. | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
The Government is only able to say it is a chooefing the 2% goal | :18:23. | :18:31. | |
because it is includingsuch areas as retired MoD civilian personnel | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
pensions and will the Secretary of State instead commit to using the | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
same method of calculation as Labour did in 2010? I have already told the | :18:43. | :18:50. | |
House that the return that we filed to NATO is for NATO to decide | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
whether that expenditure is properly allocated and the allocations that | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
we have made have been endorsed be aselect committee. Our expenditure | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
is 35 billion this year and next year it will be 36 and the following | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
37 and in the last year of is in Parliament 38 billion it goes up | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
every year. The Government has certainly not breaken any NATO rules | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
in calculating the 2%, but may I remind ministers and members that 2% | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
is a minimum, it is not a target and we used to spend more than 2% in the | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
Cold War years as recently as the 80s. Does he agree that even if all | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
our NATO, European allies were to meet the 2% pledge, as a minimum, we | :19:46. | :19:52. | |
still would be unable to deter an aggressive Russia without the | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
involvement of United States, which is why the Prime Minister's visit to | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
President Trump was so important. Well I have been hoping over the | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
last few days to find something on which my honourable friend and I can | :20:08. | :20:15. | |
agree. We have now done. So because I endorse both legs of his | :20:16. | :20:23. | |
proposition, the 2% is a minimum, we comfortably exceed it at the moment. | :20:24. | :20:26. | |
But it's important that other countries meet it. It is important | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
that the alliance continues to improve its investment. On Friday | :20:32. | :20:38. | |
the National Audit Office put a question mark against the | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
Government's commitment to 2% and their report said that to fulfil the | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
defence equipment plan following the collapse of Brexit, of the pound | :20:48. | :20:54. | |
after Brexit, the moved will have MoD will have to all use the | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
contingency fund and make further savings. The Trident ring fence, | :21:02. | :21:10. | |
will it be the hard-pressed personnel and our conventional | :21:11. | :21:13. | |
capabilities that will bear the brunt of these cuts? No, we have | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
been able to maintain conventional and nuclear forces. The honourable | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
gentleman is right that the scale and the success of our equipment | :21:23. | :21:29. | |
programme does of course defend on us releasing the efficiencies to | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
which we committed at the time of the review and that work is now in | :21:34. | :21:42. | |
hand. The National Audit Office report casts doubt on the type 26 | :21:43. | :21:50. | |
programme and said changes ill with unclear. Will an ageing fleet in | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
need of renewal, and with budgetary crisis looming and the uncertainty | :21:57. | :22:00. | |
caused by Brexit and the cuts, how does he intend to make good on the | :22:01. | :22:12. | |
promise made to maintain 19 destroyes and frigates. And how can | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
it respond to global threats with the fleet it has. We set out our | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
commitment in the review and I'm surprised the honourable gentleman | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
is so concerned about the budget for the type 26 frigate which is | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
designed to pretext the deterrent he didn't want to keep! It seems an odd | :22:33. | :22:41. | |
project to be worried about. But the terms of that contract have yet to | :22:42. | :22:49. | |
be finalised, but I can assure the honourable gentleman the expansion | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
of navy is fully funded. I should like to answer questions five and 14 | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
together. With a rising defence budget and equipment plan worth ?178 | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
billion over ten years, there are great opportunities to encourage | :23:08. | :23:10. | |
innovation. We are spending up to 20% of our science and technology | :23:11. | :23:20. | |
budget on research and launching a defence and security accelerator to | :23:21. | :23:29. | |
fund innovative ideas. My constituency is a centre of | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
excellence in underwater systems and sonar and this relies on the | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
retention of hi-tech skills, what steps are her department taking to | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
ensure we have the right environment for big and smaller firms by | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
investing in training and development to support innovation? | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
Can I draw my honourable friend's attention to the recently launched | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
skills strategy that is called securing defence skills for the | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
future. We are already in the MoD and the armed forces the biggest | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
provider of apprenticeships in the UK and Tallis run apprenticeship and | :24:14. | :24:21. | |
graduate programmes and they're increasing women with these skills. | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
How can small firms with a great idea bring it to the MoD without | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
getting caught up in a bureaucratic procurement process? I'm sure he | :24:33. | :24:39. | |
noticed I launched the enduring challenge run by the defence and | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
security accelerator, to be a front door to enter into defence, for | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
anyone who has a great idea that can benefit the UK defence. The funding | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
will be available throughout the year. On the other side of that door | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
are helpful partners who will guide small firms through the procurement | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
process and I would encourage firms to visit the web-site to see how | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
they can develop the next world-beating idea. In order to | :25:11. | :25:17. | |
innovate, companies have to have markets. Given the President Trump | :25:18. | :25:25. | |
has proclaimed he intends to buy America, are we talking about | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
hi-tech equipment or cars that her department will start to buy | :25:30. | :25:37. | |
British? Of course, we are the biggest customer of the industry as | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
he well knows. He also will know that there are great examples of | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
international collaboration and where we are purchasing 138 planes | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
from the three thousand in the F35 programme, 15% of each of those | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
3,000 planes are being built in the north west of England and we have | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
been selected as the global hub for repair and maintenance of those | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
planes. In what way is the UK Government helping defence suppliers | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
to innovate and secure part of 1.4 billion that is spent on repairing | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
nuclear weapons and does the minister agree it would help them if | :26:19. | :26:23. | |
there was transparency and accountability in the way that these | :26:24. | :26:25. | |
weapons do not work effectively? That is another example of how | :26:26. | :26:41. | |
closely we work with them. Right across the whole of the defence | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
industrial base, we do put a premium onnen no-one vagus and he draws | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
attention to an area where human innovation's been outstanding. | :26:53. | :27:03. | |
Nature indeed, Mr Speaker. The UK has a leading role in NATO. We are | :27:04. | :27:11. | |
providing a framework of 800 personnel in Estonia. They are | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
equipped with warrior Armoured fighter vehicles. The group will | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
also have challenger two tanks for the European's Royals and also | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
equipped with tactical and manned aerial vehicles. I thank the | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
Minister for The answer. Our Polish partners and allies will obviously | :27:31. | :27:33. | |
appreciate the rotational deployments. But he will know that | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
they are very keen to have a permanent NATO base east of Walsall. | :27:39. | :27:44. | |
Can he envisage that happening during the course of this | :27:45. | :27:47. | |
Parliament? Mr Speaker, I had the pleasure of meeting my counterpart | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
from Poland the other week. We discussed not tonne deployment of | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
150 personnel into Poland from the Light Dragoons. I congratulated them | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
on the fact they do spend 2% of GDP. At the same time, I heard what they | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
said about NATO, but that is a matter for our NATO colleagues. | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
Mr Speaker, I learnt a great deal about NATO on my first visit to the | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
United States when I actually became a green card holder in the United | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
States, so I feel particularly worried about what's happening in | :28:23. | :28:25. | |
the United States with immigration at the moment. The fact was that, in | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
the 1960s, NATO was the bedrock of our defence in Europe, it still is | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
today. We need a stronger NATO but we need to convert President Trump | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
to be a great supporter and a positive supporter of the defence of | :28:41. | :28:43. | |
Europe. Vrnlingts Mr Speaker, I learnt an | :28:44. | :28:50. | |
awful lot about NATO in the '70s and '80s and our American allies were | :28:51. | :28:53. | |
with us then and they are with us today. Really and truly we need to | :28:54. | :28:59. | |
make sure that America's 100% behind NATO which has been committed to and | :29:00. | :29:02. | |
so should the Labour Party leadership. | :29:03. | :29:05. | |
Mr Speaker, thank you. In relation to both these deployments, I welcome | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
the whole hearted support by President Trump for NATO and also | :29:10. | :29:14. | |
the transfer of command of the NATO response land corps and the Task | :29:15. | :29:20. | |
Force to the allied rapid reaction corps in Gloucester. Does my right | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
honourable friend agree that this is high testment to the UK's role in | :29:25. | :29:31. | |
NATO and will he send our the wishes to them? I couldn't agree more with | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
my colleague, he's absolutely right. There's one thing I know as a former | :29:37. | :29:40. | |
servicemen myself, you need to know the country is behind you. I would | :29:41. | :29:44. | |
hope all of this House would support the troops as they are deployed to | :29:45. | :29:50. | |
Eastern Europe. The Prime Minister's set out our | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
commitment to continue to work closely with European allies and | :29:56. | :29:58. | |
partners on shared defence and priority securities. We are making a | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
significant contribution already to a wide range of European security | :30:03. | :30:05. | |
challenges and this year we'll deploy troops to Estonia and Poland | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
and fighter jets to Romania in addition to our normal exercises. | :30:11. | :30:12. | |
I'm grateful to the Secretary of State. The UK's long played a | :30:13. | :30:18. | |
leading role in EU missions operation Sofia in the med train ya, | :30:19. | :30:22. | |
operation Atlanta off the Horn of Africa. Given the fresh commitment | :30:23. | :30:26. | |
the Prime Minister's expressed which the Secretary of State has drawn | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
attention to, does he intend that we'll continue to participate in EU | :30:31. | :30:37. | |
missions after we leave the EU? These are missions in which we | :30:38. | :30:42. | |
participate not simply because they're European but they're also in | :30:43. | :30:48. | |
our own national interest curbing piracy off the Horn of Africa, | :30:49. | :30:52. | |
bringing bass to the -- peace to the Balkans and helping stop the flow of | :30:53. | :30:57. | |
migrants across the Mediterranean. The honourable gentleman is right, | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
swreel the opportunity if we wish to do so to cooperate with our green | :31:03. | :31:06. | |
partners on future missions where it is in our national interests to do | :31:07. | :31:08. | |
so. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Would my | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
right honourable friend agree that the answer to earlier questions | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
illustrates that we punch above our weight compared to many European | :31:17. | :31:20. | |
partners, both in terms of spending and in terms of deployments to | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
protect the eastern flank of Europe. Would he further agree that this is | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
something which our European neighbours will do very well to keep | :31:30. | :31:37. | |
in mind as we negotiate a new relationship with them. Let me | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
congratulation my right honourable friend on his Knighthood, as I | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
should have earlier congratulated our colleague across the floor. My | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
right honourable friend is absolutely right. We do need to | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
continue to improve the effectiveness of our work within the | :31:57. | :32:03. | |
European Union and within NATO. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The pressures | :32:04. | :32:13. | |
of allies can considered under the institutions as a possible risk. | :32:14. | :32:16. | |
With the UK leaving the European Union, what assurances can the | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
Secretary of State take to mitigate the economic risk, especially given | :32:22. | :32:26. | |
the foreign currency fluctuations, something that had been pointed out | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
as posing a significant risk to the national equipment plan in the | :32:31. | :32:36. | |
future? Secretary of State? I'm not going to comment and you wouldn't | :32:37. | :32:43. | |
expect me to, suffice it to say that the ministry, like any other large | :32:44. | :32:49. | |
organisations, does take precautions against fluctuations in these | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
currency rates and I think it's far too early to say or indeed wrong to | :32:54. | :33:00. | |
speculate as to where those rates will eventually settle down. | :33:01. | :33:07. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Ministry of Defence's Permanent Secretary has | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
said that the European Union is operationally irrelevant to defence, | :33:12. | :33:14. | |
but does my right honourable friend agree with me that there are many | :33:15. | :33:20. | |
areas where there is room for continued collaboration, in | :33:21. | :33:23. | |
particular on a project by project basis through the European defence | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
agency? Well, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry agrees | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
with me on these matters. Of course, after we leave the European Union, | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
we will still have the largest defence budget in Europe, the | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
largest navy in Europe and some of the major capabilities that our | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
other partners will not have, and we'll continue to collaborate with | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
our partners, including key allies like France and Germany but also | :33:55. | :34:00. | |
northern European allies on these different programmes and our leaving | :34:01. | :34:03. | |
Europe does not mean that we won't continue to seek the efficiencies | :34:04. | :34:09. | |
that come from future collaboration. Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Defence | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
has said quite correctly that cooperation of European partners can | :34:16. | :34:19. | |
be both cost effective and it can achieve the results. I welcome the | :34:20. | :34:22. | |
Secretary of State's comments this afternoon. But can the Defence | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
Secretary specifically tell us if he's had discussions with the Brexit | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
secretary about future European cooperation when we've left the | :34:33. | :34:33. | |
European Union? Yes, I have. The new United States Defence | :34:34. | :34:50. | |
Secretary, James Mattis and I have already discussed a range of NATO | :34:51. | :34:54. | |
issues. I welcome his public support for the alliance. The Prime Minister | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
and President Trump has positive discussions about NATO last Friday | :35:00. | :35:02. | |
also. The United Kingdom and the United States will be leading | :35:03. | :35:05. | |
forward battalions this year in Estonia and Poland and I'll be | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
working with secretary Mattis on ways to improve NATO's | :35:12. | :35:14. | |
effectiveness. Thank you, Mr Speaker. President | :35:15. | :35:20. | |
Trump said he supports NATO 12010% but the American administration's | :35:21. | :35:23. | |
also said they would like to see changes in NATO to bring it into the | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
21st century. -- 100%. What discussions has the Secretary of | :35:29. | :35:31. | |
State had with his opposite number about that and if he hasn't, why | :35:32. | :35:37. | |
doesn't he start? Well, I have had those discussions | :35:38. | :35:41. | |
and look forward to further discusses when NATO Ke fence | :35:42. | :35:50. | |
ministers meet -- Defence Ministers meet. | :35:51. | :36:07. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The United States remains 100% committed to | :36:08. | :36:17. | |
NATO, the bedrock of its mutual defence pact. Would he agree that | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
the best indication of the role of the US in NATO is the cooperation we | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
are seeing around bringing our carrier strike force capability | :36:27. | :36:29. | |
back, rather than some of the commentary we are hearing in the | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
media? I was pleased to conclude an agreement with the United States | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
government before Christmas on the use of the US Marine Corpses of the | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
carrier to land their aircraft on. There are many more opportunities on | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
that programme and on the development of maritime patrol | :36:48. | :36:50. | |
aircraft where we are both using the same type of aircraft, many more | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
opportunities for deeper collaboration as there are in the | :36:55. | :36:59. | |
research and innovation areas that my right honourable friend is | :37:00. | :37:08. | |
leading on. The Navy is growing for the first | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
time in a generation with new aircraft carriers, subs, frigates on | :37:15. | :37:20. | |
their way. This is a new era of maritime power delivering security | :37:21. | :37:21. | |
at home. Are you all right? Do you want me to | :37:22. | :37:36. | |
do it? Sorry, it's my back, Mr Speaker. | :37:37. | :37:46. | |
THE SPEAKER: The gentleman can ask his question from that sedentary | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
position. Sorry, Mr Speaker. The Defence Select Committee said that | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
the Royal Navy fleet of destroyers is below the critical mass required. | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
Does the minister agree with the former sea Lords who gave evidence | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
to the committee that the number of vessels isn't sufficient give than | :38:06. | :38:07. | |
there are island nations to protect our interests on the high seas? | :38:08. | :38:15. | |
THE SPEAKER: Thank you. Minister? I would like to emphasise that the | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
SDSR in 2015 did announce that we'll maintain our fleet of 19 fig grates | :38:21. | :38:27. | |
and destroyers and committed to the combat ships, three new solid | :38:28. | :38:35. | |
support ships and two new off shore pas haveles, in addition to the two | :38:36. | :38:37. | |
that are on their way. THE SPEAKER: We all wish the | :38:38. | :38:42. | |
honourable gentleman well. Perhaps I can say, no injury will dare to get | :38:43. | :38:50. | |
him down for long! THE SPEAKER: The honourable lady | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
should come in on this question to which her own question is similar. | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. There's a thought for Monday afternoon. Could | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
the minister share with the House what percentage of the Royal Navy is | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
now female, how that compares with other NATO countries and what the | :39:09. | :39:12. | |
MoD is doing to ensure that women joining up can have a long, | :39:13. | :39:16. | |
fulfilling career in our world class Royal Navy alongside their family | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
responsibilities? Thank you, Mr Speaker. I can confirm that, as of | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
the 1st October 2016, some 9% of the naval service strength were female. | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
The departmental recruitment target is for 15% by 2020. The Royal Navy | :39:31. | :39:36. | |
has a number of initiatives to encourage recruitment and address | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
retention of female officers, including more focussed career | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
management and increased access to flexible ways of working. In the | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
2015 SDSR and again in December of last year in the first annual report | :39:51. | :39:56. | |
of the SDSR, the Government made it clear that the trials for Hth HMS | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
Queen Elizabeth would begin in spring of this year. In response to | :40:02. | :40:04. | |
the question last year, she informed me that they would no longer take | :40:05. | :40:09. | |
place but would take place in summer this year. What are the reasons and | :40:10. | :40:13. | |
who will be the operational service date for Queen Elizabeth? | :40:14. | :40:20. | |
I would like to confirm to the honourable gentleman that she will | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
commence her sea trials this summer and she will enter into the same | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
programme so that she can sail into Portsmouth later this year. | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Will the minister join me in wishing God | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
speed to HMS Diamond leaving shortly from Portsmouth to lead the NATO | :40:39. | :40:40. | |
Task Force in the Black Sea? I would join in wishing God speed, | :40:41. | :40:49. | |
indeed to all of our destroyers which are in a range of different | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
tasks across the globe at this moment. Thank you. No 12. With | :40:56. | :41:10. | |
permission I would like to answer questions 12 and 16 together. The | :41:11. | :41:17. | |
security situation in Yemen has been concerning since 2014 when Huthy | :41:18. | :41:25. | |
forces took over the capital and forced out the legitimate | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
government. As the suffering in Yemen unfolds, near hi 2.2 million | :41:31. | :41:37. | |
people are internally displaced with evidence from amnesty showing | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
partially exploded British bombs are lying unexploded. Despite the | :41:44. | :41:52. | |
foreign minister denying their existence, we know such bombs have | :41:53. | :41:57. | |
been deployed, when will this heartless Tory Government wake up, | :41:58. | :42:03. | |
take on Saudi Arabia and stop the sale of these bombs s? I think she | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
must have missed the statement that the Secretary of State gave on this | :42:10. | :42:16. | |
in December. But I can confirm that the humanitarian situation is | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
extremely serious and as a result the UK is the forth largest donor to | :42:22. | :42:31. | |
Yemen. Thank you the single biggist contributor to humanitarian | :42:32. | :42:35. | |
disasters in Yemen is the Saudi Arabian air force, who have left 7 | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
million people in danger of starvation. How much worse does the | :42:41. | :42:49. | |
crisis have to get before the UK stops selling weapons to a | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
Government accused of war crimes in Yemen? Well, the UK position is of | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
course that political solution is the best way forward to bring | :42:58. | :43:03. | |
long-term stability to Yemen and to end the conflict. But he will be | :43:04. | :43:13. | |
aware the coalition in the Yemen is supported by a united nation | :43:14. | :43:19. | |
resolution and there are regular incursions into Saudi territory and | :43:20. | :43:26. | |
he would recognise the legitimate self-defence of the Saudi-led | :43:27. | :43:33. | |
coalition under the UN nations decision. The UK-made cluster bombs | :43:34. | :43:40. | |
have been used and the Saudi Government have said they will not | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
continue this. But can the Secretary of State whether he has urged the | :43:45. | :43:52. | |
Saudi Government to sign the cluster ban. Yes, I can confirm that the | :43:53. | :44:00. | |
Government regularly urges the Saudi Arabia to sign the cluster munition | :44:01. | :44:08. | |
convention and I can confirm that in his statement in December, that he | :44:09. | :44:15. | |
welcomed the announcement that these UK munitions would no longer be | :44:16. | :44:28. | |
used. We know that the UK sold 500 LBL75 cluster munitions and the | :44:29. | :44:31. | |
Government gives the impression only one has been dropped in Yemen. Can | :44:32. | :44:40. | |
have a full inventory of the munitions, including serial numbers | :44:41. | :44:43. | |
and records for those no longer in their possession. Can I draw the | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
honourable lady's attention to my previous answer about how we welcome | :44:48. | :44:54. | |
the commitment, but we do not routinely hold records of other | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
nations of UK-manufactured equipment. Particularly supplies | :45:00. | :45:05. | |
that were made decades ago. As the minister knows, there are serious | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
allegations that war both sides in the conflict have broken | :45:12. | :45:14. | |
international humanitarian law. These claims are particularly | :45:15. | :45:20. | |
worrying to us here, because we now know that UK supplied cluster | :45:21. | :45:26. | |
munitions have been used in Yemen. What action is the Government taking | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
for pushing for a full investigation into the alleged violations of | :45:32. | :45:38. | |
international law in Yemen? Well, we are not opposing calls for an | :45:39. | :45:44. | |
international independent investigation into these incidents, | :45:45. | :45:47. | |
but we want to see the coalition investigate the allegations of | :45:48. | :45:50. | |
breaches of international law, which are attributed to them and for the | :45:51. | :45:56. | |
investigations to be thorough and conclusive. Finally Sir David Amis. | :45:57. | :46:06. | |
Question No 15. Mr Speaker, this Government is committed to | :46:07. | :46:11. | |
increasing our maritime power to project our interest and promote our | :46:12. | :46:17. | |
prosperity. We will spend ?63 billion on new ships and submarines | :46:18. | :46:28. | |
with do new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers and tankerses. | :46:29. | :46:36. | |
Would my honourable friend I degree it would be testimony to the British | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
workers and our navy and show Britain as a global force and will | :46:42. | :46:47. | |
they give ate wonderful welcome. I think it will be a moment of | :46:48. | :46:56. | |
enormous national pride when she sails into Portsmouth harbour and | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
I'm sure my honourable friend will join with many on the peer at | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
Southend, hoping for a glimpse and waving as she sails past! Topical | :47:07. | :47:16. | |
questions. No 1. My priorities remain our operations against Daesh | :47:17. | :47:25. | |
d strengthening day NATO and the Queen will unveil the new | :47:26. | :47:31. | |
Iraq/Afghanistan memorial with a service in London on 9th March as a | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
reminder of the contribution that our armed forces, our aid workers | :47:38. | :47:40. | |
and civilians have made to the security of the United Kingdom and | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
to help build a more stable future for the peoples of Iraq and | :47:46. | :47:54. | |
Afghanistan. So far 6,000 from my constituency have signed a petition | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
to cancel Trump's visit and the figure is going up. Will the | :47:59. | :48:03. | |
minister publicly condemn the entry ban that Donald Trump has imposed on | :48:04. | :48:15. | |
seven majority countries? I think the Government's position on this | :48:16. | :48:21. | |
has been made very clear. We do not agree with the way the ban is being | :48:22. | :48:25. | |
applied to British citizens and the honourable lady may have an | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
opportunity later this afternoon to pursue this directly with my | :48:30. | :48:35. | |
colleague the Foreign Secretary. What assessment has my honourable | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
friend made of Trident renewal on associated supply chain jobs in the | :48:41. | :48:49. | |
United Kingdom? I can confirm the programme is a major national | :48:50. | :48:53. | |
programme that will sustain thousands of jobs, the benefit will | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
extend beyond the major companies leading the programme. Army | :48:59. | :49:08. | |
recruitment levels are worryingly know, due in part to the | :49:09. | :49:14. | |
Government's failure to manage the contract with capita, allowing this | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
company to sponge off the public purse and bringing in over 6,000 out | :49:19. | :49:25. | |
of a target of 9,000 army recruits, will the Secretary of State review | :49:26. | :49:31. | |
capita's contract and improve its department's monitoring to stop | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
leech-like companies siphoning off taxpayers' money. We need to be | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
careful, because comments like that undermine the morale of our armed | :49:43. | :49:51. | |
forces. Let's have some facts. On 1st December 2016 our force were | :49:52. | :50:04. | |
143,000 and 29,000 were navy and 33,000, we are more work to do in | :50:05. | :50:09. | |
retention and recruitment, but those comments are not helpful to our | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
armed forces. Last week we debated prisons and the difficulty in | :50:16. | :50:19. | |
challenging a and recruiting prison officer, can I ask the MoD to use | :50:20. | :50:25. | |
its good offices when personnel leave that they are pointed in the | :50:26. | :50:29. | |
direction of Prison Service, there seems to be a good relationship | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
between the two with their skills and expertise much valued by the | :50:34. | :50:44. | |
Prison Service? Our service leavers have many transferable skills and we | :50:45. | :50:47. | |
are working to encourage them to join the Prison Service as part of | :50:48. | :50:52. | |
Government's recruitment of 2,500 new prison officers. Helen Hayes. | :50:53. | :51:02. | |
The report on UK military operations in Syria and Iraq recommended that | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
the Government provide the necessary detail on what is being targeted in | :51:07. | :51:10. | |
those countries. And put this information as far as possible into | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
the public domain. Is the Secretary of State prepared to make that | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
commitment today? We already publish a huge amount of information about | :51:22. | :51:26. | |
the number of strikes the Royal Air Force have carried out that. | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
Information was updated today and gave details of operations last week | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
around Mosul and a strike to the west of Raqqa, that information is | :51:38. | :51:40. | |
already made public. But I will of course look again and see whether we | :51:41. | :51:47. | |
can improve on it. Can I welcome my right honourable friend's visit to | :51:48. | :51:53. | |
Yeovil and the investment in Crow's Nest fleet protection for Merlin | :51:54. | :51:59. | |
helicopter, what is she doing to make sure that Boeing works on the | :52:00. | :52:07. | |
Apache helicopters and to build in the cluster we have in Yeovil. I was | :52:08. | :52:13. | |
impressed when I visited my honourable friend's constituency | :52:14. | :52:18. | |
this month. And of course Leonardo helicopters will support the Apache | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
mark 1s until they're retired from service and last week Boeing | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
announced it will make the UK its European base for training, | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
maintenance and repair across the defence platforms and they will want | :52:33. | :52:36. | |
to discuss I am sure this with Leonardo, which is well placed to | :52:37. | :52:41. | |
secure work on the next generation Apaches. When will the Secretary of | :52:42. | :52:51. | |
State have an inquiry into the botched Trident test to inform the | :52:52. | :52:54. | |
House what went wrong and will he tell the house what plans he has | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
made to sure the House can be confident the proceed dure for | :52:59. | :53:07. | |
providing information is reliable? I have no plans to commission the type | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
of inquiry the the honourable lady is proposing, because we do not on | :53:13. | :53:17. | |
the floor of the House comment on the details of nuclear submarine | :53:18. | :53:24. | |
operations or the details of operations, except to conclude that | :53:25. | :53:36. | |
HMS Vengeance completed that operation. With Iraqi security | :53:37. | :53:44. | |
forces lib rating Mosul, can he confirm what tour brave British | :53:45. | :53:47. | |
forces are doing to rid Iraq of Daesh. As Iraqi forces become | :53:48. | :53:56. | |
increasingly capable, we now need to deliver our training more flexibly. | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
In addition to training at different air bases, I have authorised UK | :54:03. | :54:08. | |
personnel to deliver training at other secured and protected | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
locations in Iraq. This aligns with our approach in the Kurdish region | :54:14. | :54:20. | |
and ensures we continue to deliver to deliver the skills and bridge | :54:21. | :54:26. | |
training the Iraqi forces require. Ministers are aware and no doubt | :54:27. | :54:36. | |
concerned that RAF servicemen Corry McKeig has been missing and we have | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
been kept informed of work being done to find him. Could I ask the | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
minister to place on the record their concern about the whereabouts | :54:47. | :54:53. | |
of Corrie and give assurance that work is being done to bring him | :54:54. | :55:01. | |
home? This is an ongoing police inquiry, but the whole House would | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
register their thoughts with his family and loved ones and his | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
service men who I have made. I have on a daily basis made sure that | :55:14. | :55:20. | |
every available military kit, personnel and surveillance equipment | :55:21. | :55:23. | |
is available should the police have requested it which they have on | :55:24. | :55:28. | |
several occasions and thank you for paying tribute to my PPS who has | :55:29. | :55:33. | |
made sure the local community know what is is going on. We all want him | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
to come home and the MoD will do all we can. After the revelation of the | :55:39. | :55:45. | |
failure of the Trine test, will the Secretary of State confirm our | :55:46. | :55:57. | |
nuclear deterrence is still able to deliver lethal projectiles with | :55:58. | :56:02. | |
total accuracy over a very long period of years like Roger Federer. | :56:03. | :56:13. | |
It is a very high bar to do that. I confirm the safety and effectiveness | :56:14. | :56:20. | |
of our nuclear deterrent. Has the Secretary of State has an | :56:21. | :56:23. | |
opportunity to speak to his American counter part, many of us would hope | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
he would have pointed out to the Americans that Trump's ban is | :56:28. | :56:35. | |
potential lay massive recruiting sergeant for terrorism and will not | :56:36. | :56:36. | |
protect anyone. The honourable lady will have more | :56:37. | :56:53. | |
opportunity later this afternoon to ask more detailed questions on that. | :56:54. | :56:56. | |
Would my right honourable friend agree with me that we would need to | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
spend increasing study, increase the study, of what is happening in the | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
south China sea, the strategic threats are changing there. Yes, we | :57:07. | :57:13. | |
are concerned at what the rising tension in the south China sea looks | :57:14. | :57:18. | |
like and we continue to encourage all parties that may be contesting | :57:19. | :57:24. | |
the sovereignty of particular islands or other areas to take those | :57:25. | :57:32. | |
disputes through the international forum established for that purpose | :57:33. | :57:36. | |
and deescalate the situation as far as they can. | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
The whole country will welcome the memorial to our 625 brave soldiers | :57:42. | :57:46. | |
who perished in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also they'll welcome | :57:47. | :57:52. | |
the admission by the Prime Minister that we'll never engage in wars of | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
that kind in future, wouldn't it be appropriate now to investigate why | :57:57. | :58:00. | |
we went into help manned in the belief that not a shot would be | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
fired but that resulted in 425 deaths of our soldiers. Shouldn't we | :58:06. | :58:09. | |
investigate that to make sure we don't repeat it? Well, the | :58:10. | :58:17. | |
honourable gentleman's long held the views and taken time to read the | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
Prime Minister's speech in full in Philadelphia last Thursday where she | :58:23. | :58:25. | |
spoke of the importance of the standing by the Farage ill | :58:26. | :58:30. | |
democracies in both Iraq and Afghanistan where we have increased | :58:31. | :58:34. | |
our troop presence and where we will stay until the job is done -- | :58:35. | :58:43. | |
fragile. Thank you, Mr Speaker, I'm sure the whole House would have | :58:44. | :58:47. | |
heard with some joy that the procurement process by the MoD is to | :58:48. | :58:51. | |
be simplified and diversified to help us judge a success of this | :58:52. | :58:55. | |
could the minister say how many people currently work in procurement | :58:56. | :58:58. | |
at the MoD and whether that number will go up or down between the end | :58:59. | :59:09. | |
of the Parliament? I can provide in writing the number of people that | :59:10. | :59:14. | |
work there. I can commit that, as a bespoke trading entity, the | :59:15. | :59:17. | |
aspiration is that we don't manage the head count but manage down the | :59:18. | :59:23. | |
cost of it. -- the cost of procurement. How | :59:24. | :59:27. | |
relaxed is the Secretary of State about Trump having his finger on the | :59:28. | :59:31. | |
nuclear button? The United States has always been a good partner to | :59:32. | :59:37. | |
this country and has played a leading role in NATO. It's a key | :59:38. | :59:45. | |
part of the nuclear alliance that we and the United States share | :59:46. | :59:50. | |
together. It's worth remembering that NATO is a nuclear alliance and | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
I look forward to working with the new administration on precisely | :59:56. | :59:57. | |
that. Mr Speaker, will the Secretary of | :59:58. | :00:01. | |
State join with me in welcoming the heads of Government agreement signed | :00:02. | :00:04. | |
at the weekend between the UK and Turkey, securing over 400 jobs in | :00:05. | :00:09. | |
Lancashire. Does that not send out a signal that Britain post Brexit is | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
open for business? It does, and I too am delighted that the agreement | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
has now been signed in principle on the programme which will combine | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
Turkish and British technology and brainpower into the development of a | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
new fighter aircraft and I hop that will lead to many more jobs being | :00:30. | :00:43. | |
created, both here and in Turkey. If the US President follows through | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
with his intention to reinstate torture, NATO allies will be legally | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
obliged not to work with them. Will the Government ensure the use of | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
torture is ruled out in all effects. For NATO effectiveness? I understand | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
the point the honourable gentleman is making, we do not condone the use | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
of torture and there are obviously implications that flow from that. | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
Will the minister take action to ensure that more of the new light | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
tanks we are making are made in Britain? | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
I'm not sure if he's referring to a specific programme but I can confirm | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
we have taken extensive steps to ensure that a significant portion of | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
the manufacture process of the Ajax vehicles are made in South Wales and | :01:35. | :01:37. | |
we'll continue to work with suppliers to ensure we get | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
significant UK content in all our procurement. Can I ask the reasons | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
for the delay in the Queen Elizabeth sea trials and what the in-service | :01:46. | :01:54. | |
date of HMS Queen Elizabeth will be? As has always been our intention, | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
Queen Elizabeth should be accepted into the Royal Navy before the end | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
of this year. We are not giving specific dates as to when the sea | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
trials are likely to commence. The Queen Elizabeth will set out on the | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
sea trials when she's ready to do so. | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. In 2020, Plymouth will be commemorating the | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
Mayflower leaving in order to go and find the American colonies. Would my | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
right honourable friend be willing to meet with me to discuss how we | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
could put together a review of the NATO fleet with obviously HMS The | :02:32. | :02:34. | |
Queen and also potentially the President of America? | :02:35. | :02:43. | |
I'm very happy to consider. It's the first suggestion I've heard as to | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
how that particular anniversary may be commemorated but it's certainly | :02:48. | :02:50. | |
worth looking into. THE SPEAKER: Urgent question. Ronnie | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
Cowan. I asked the Minister for Work and pensions to make a statement | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
under proposed closure of our Jobcentre Plus offices throughout | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
the United Kingdom. Thank you, Mr Speaker. On Thursday | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
26th January, the DWP published proposals for the future of its | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
estate including Jobcentres and back office sites. This Government is | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
committed to helping people who can work, get back into work. Since 2010 | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
we have seen the claimant count drop from almost 1.5 million to around | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
800,000 and we have seen employment rise by 2.7 million to near record | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
levels. Old office contracts that are held by Jobcentres and benefits | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
centres are coming up for renewal and in the 20 years since the | :03:36. | :03:37. | |
contracts | :03:38. | :03:38. |