Speeches by Twigg.

“So at the moment we do not have a plan for reaching that figure.”

“At the moment, for instance, Australia are on for about 90, aren’t they?”

“So we do not have a date for when we will have all 138.”

“We go back to the figure of 138 that you hope to buy by the end of the decade—”

“Secretary of State, I was talking about the work share in terms of the As and Bs, and how it will be less on the As. Can you say something about that? Obviously, we want to give as much work as we can to our industry.”

“Isn’t it the case that the work share for the UK on the F-35As is less than on the F-35Bs? [Interruption.]”

“When will we have purchased the 138?”

“So that is still the plan, is it? And when do you expect that to—”

“Is it still the plan to purchase a total of 138 F-35s, and can we expect the F-35A to make up the greater proportion of that purchase?”

“Secretary of State, the purchase of the F-35A represents a change in the UK’s nuclear posture. The use of that deterrent will require US backing. Why have the Government decided to pursue this approach rather than a new sovereign nuclear capability?”

“You said it will be in the autumn. What information will the Committee be able to have in the autumn that we have not been allowed to date? Compared with ’23, what will be different about the information that the Committee has access to in the autumn, in terms of transparency?”

“Sorry, mine is not a productive argument?”

“What information will we be given as a Committee?”

“What should they be? Have you got any idea?”

“The SDR said we should be looking at new funding models and that that should be explored to see whether we could get more capital into defence. What is your view on that?”

“We already know that the Bill as published was flawed, because of the changes that have been made in the past few days and announced today. I welcome the wider review of PIP and the consultation with disabled people, their organisations and clinicians, but given the wider review and that the Timms review is yet to repo…”

“Basically, you are saying that our focus should really be on Europe and not on trying to do lots of things in different parts of the world.”

“So we should do much less in Asia-Pacific then?”

“General Barrons, we are too “thinly spread”, so what is it that we should not be doing?”

“Okay. We heard that one of the questions you would answer was about whether the Armed Forces are “thinly spread and…should be more focused”. What does the review recommend that UK defence stops doing, if it is spread too thin?”