Defence Spending Question House of Lords

I bake leisure ask a question of

which I have given private notice.

The question is as follows. We

pastor majesties Government one

assessment they have made on the

levels of investment in the British

Armed Forces in the light of recent

reports of attentional cuts in

defence spending?

Defence spending

is rising not following. This year

the budget is 36 billion and it will

increase by at least zero plus 5%

above inflation every year this

Parliament to almost 40 billion by

20 21. The UK is proud to be the

second-largest defence spender in

Nato and the fifth-largest in the

world. Recent press speculation on

changes to the UK's structure and

costs of the budget has been

misleading and unhelpful.

Isn't it

unprecedented for the head of one of

the armed services to intervene in

they did date of this kind? Made all

the more remarkable by the fact that

he has been endorsed by the

Secretary of State for defence? Let

me ask of he agrees with the

Secretary of State for defence? S

ahead of the Army and the Sentry

state have now reached the that

there is insufficient investment in

defence isn't it high time the

Government did so as well?

S

Discovery Bay, Thomas Pieters has

not yet been given. What I recognise

the sentiment that the noble lord

has articulate. The national

security capability review is about

maintaining agility in this

countries security and defence as

they had of the curve in terms of

the resources that we deploy. We

must remain agile in a world that is

ever-changing and that is why the

Government is conducting this

review. It's about ensuring that our

defence and security all season

plans are as joined up efficient and

effective as possible.

I apologise

for jumping up too quickly. Does the

smart cover the chaos and the whole

defence area? The annual report in

2015 was due in the end of December

and yet somehow it has subsumed into

www. ID for which we have not

caught. Can I ask the noble lord

whether this review will set out the

threats, how they're going to be

mad, and if Cassie stated in

previous answers, there is no money,

what threats we are going to

tolerate mis-mac? There is no chaos

whatsoever. The SCR is about

analysing across government decides

to national security and consider

their impact on the implementation

of the 2015 as the SR and national

security strategy. And that context

the Mr defence is done a great deal

of high work. One that -- once the

NSC are as Kodro close the want to

build on the elements of the good

work that has been done to export

further the opportunities for

modernisation that had been

identified.

Should it not be

remembered that for every hour of

every day and every night there is

somewhere in the world one of our

Trident submarines on patrol ready

to respond should our supreme

national interest so require? Should

not any potential aggressor be

reminded accordingly?

My noble

friend is absolutely right but it is

precisely for that reason that the

recent speculation in the press and

elsewhere is unhelpful. It is

unhelpful because it is inherently

unsettling to the men and women of

the Armed Forces.

Aside attentional

cuts does the speculation about

there architecture currently in

place down in particularly cuts

which affect the training of Armed

Forces. What the Minister like to

comment on that because that is

affecting our fighting efficiency

and morale.

That is correct. Some

decisions have been taken for the

current financial year two decrease

the amount of training that certain

parts of the Armed Forces will be

able to avail. I emphasise that it

is a temporary measure.

No bigger

illustration of the Minister did

that last ahead of service attack

with the fact were resources. I

cannot read that ever happening

before. Admittedly I've only been in

the Navy for 453 years but I don't

know that happened before. This is a

worrying event and it reflects what

has been said of his has and the

other house about a fence. My

question relates to our sailors,

soldiers and airmen. This

uncertainty in the pressure on

resources, the howling out which is

going on day by day Thomas is

actually affecting the morale of our

people. It is actually causing

difficulty in recruiting. People are

leaving. There are less people. To

mask the Minister is a sad face in

our MOD going to produce a been

telling our people what is going on,

what the future looks like, when

will there be an SDR, is about an

SDR, what exactly is happening?

Because at the moment there are

strange confusion and this is bad

for our military.

The central point

noble lord makes is of course quite

correct. I agree with him

uncertainty in any context can be

unsettling and damaging and the

Government does not wish to prolong

this exercise for longer than

necessary. I can listen to him that

the review is still currently

ongoing, Ministers will consider

conclusions in due course, and he

decisions on whether or what extent

the conclusions of the work are made

public will be for a separate

decision by Ministers.

Last Thursday

we had a defence debate in this

House which I had the honour of

leading. The Thursday before there

was a mag doesn't debate in the

other house supported by all

members, all sides of the House in a

major way. Why would like to say is

that at the debate became very clear

from those were much more space in

this House who handled themselves

magnificently as a duty to the

country, on the basis I would like

to we thought with you there is

grave disquiet, I repeat the words

grave disquiet, from all members in

both houses. That noble lord, my

friend the noble lord, who has huge

experience in this area and is

always totally courteous on this

must be aware of this aspect of

disquiet. It is huge. I would like

to ask the noble lord whether he

would be prepared to ask the powers

that be that this House should have

a full debate for a whole day on

defence of the realm. They have five

and a half hours last week in the

other house and this is a huge

important subject and none of us

want to live to regret not doing art

duty. Thank you.

As my noble friend

knows this House returns to the

subject of defence at regular

intervals but I will of course

convey my noble friends request to

the usual channels and I for one

would be more than happy to take

part in such a debate. I am of

course aware of the disquiet that he

refers to I've been made aware of it

across your lordships have over many

weeks.

The exercise we're doing is a very

important one. It's up to make sure

the law enforcement as a fit for the

future not the past.

The area for

this was agility. Agility runs

through three essential elements. In

mobility, Marines, Naval mobility,

and cyber, which now permeates all

defence. Can you guarantee there

will be no cuts to Marines, no cuts

to air mobility, and cyber will be

the first part of the major report?

As I have made clear in this House,

there is no question of this country

abandon negative Fabius capability.

Nor is there a question about... In

the contrary, we will boost cyber

capabilities. The NSC arm a result,

the situation, that's is us

reprioritizing how we allocate our

resources to emphasise the most

effective capabilities for the world

in which we operate.

Would the noble

Minister tell the House weather, and

I think you referred the results of

the review may or may not be made

public. Will he tell the House why

there might be a possibility that it

would be made public? Were not

asking for the evidence to be made

public, what asking for the results

of the review to be made public in

order that the rest of us can't see

how they have arrived to the

conclusions they have arrived at.

My

lords, the Government always wishes

to see maximum transparency in

decisions that it takes, but there

may be national security

considerations which override that.

My noble friend for whom I have

great respect talks about raising

the amount above and please send...

And I point out to him to fall in

the value of sterling has negated

this completely and situations

change so much, particularly with

regard to Russia. We could mention

North Korea. There are a lot of

people in this House and in the

country who are concerned about the

fence. -- about defence.

I am fully

aware of