Speeches by Twigg.

“Why do you think they said that then? Are you talking to them?”

“When will that work be completed?”

“That is clearly what we are interested in. You can put all the systems in place, but we need to know whether people feel confident in using the system. What proof do you have that satisfaction is increasing, or that people are more comfortable and confident in using it, to back up the system?”

“What were the last figures you had?”

“May I ask each of the service chiefs, who have mentioned the statistics on a number of issues, how the key performance indicator of 90% of service complaints being dealt with in a certain timeframe is going? Are service complaints being dealt with in the timeframe that you have agreed to? We will start with the Air Chi…”

“I was in Latvia at the weekend, where they very much know what the threat is from Putin and the Russians. I thank the Minister for his statement and the helpful way in which this has been described in public. It is clear that we need to do a lot more to explain to the British public what the threat is from the Russians…”

“I thank the Prime Minister for all his efforts, not least over the past few days. Although many of us have a difference of opinion with President Trump about the way he talks and the actions he is taking in terms of Iran—those are obviously things that we on the Labour Benches do not agree with—I am a little concerned …”

“It is interesting; this could just be a whole session of attacking and criticising the MoD—and that it is not something that we do very often, as you know. But we are probably all on the same page in terms of the concern and criticism about the delay. Obviously, part of it is that the longer it goes on, the more diffic…”

“Can you tell us a bit about that? We are not getting that side at the moment; we hear a lot about what the problems are, which no one is denying.”

“So you are already setting the scene for when the DIP is produced? We have some certainty—or some clear pathway—that it is already going to cost more than it would have last year, regardless of the other increases in energy costs and so forth, because the capacity is not there as it was. People have gone out of busines…”

“Following on from that, does the capacity exist within the industry to do this without causing inflation? You touched on defence inflation before, in terms of the cost of minerals and so on. With its current capacity, how can the industry meet demand without seeing defence inflation, while also ensuring that the taxpay…”

“Will the capacity be there when the DIP is produced, or do you have major capacity problems?”

“I have a quick question. A growing number of people feel that we need to transition to a war footing, or certainly that we must be prepared to be able to scale up much more quickly following on from the DIP. But to do that, we would have to bring a lot of people into the industry quickly to up our production rate. I wa…”

“Do you have any idea what the number of job losses or lack of opportunities to create jobs has been because of this delay at the moment? You have mentioned examples. Has there been any study or survey about that?”

“The Secretary of State is right to draw to attention to the fact that when he became Secretary of State, our armed forces were underfunded and very stretched. He and his team and the Government have done much to improve that, including bringing about additional funding for the armed forces. However, I am concerned that…”

“Order. Members can see that the debate is heavily subscribed, so it will be difficult to get every Member in. I am going to impose a two-minute limit to start. It is not in my gift to stop this, but if Members take interventions, that may further restrict the time that people have to speak. That is in your gift.”

“Order.”

“Order. I reiterate that there is a strict two-minute time limit on speeches.”

“Order.”

“I remind hon. Members that they may make a speech only with the prior permission of the Member in charge and the Minister. As is the convention for 30-minute debates, there will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up.”