Speeches by Thomas.

“Minister, you have spoken a lot about collaboration with other countries and how that might make us stronger and better defend Europe’s northern flank against any adversaries. From a UK point of view—we cannot scrutinise Europe; we scrutinise the MOD—what are the most important capabilities the UK has in the defence of…”

“Our resources are obviously limited as a country, and we have been through the ongoing conversations about the DIP and so on. But if we had all the resource in the world—if we had American levels of funding—what would you quickly acquire as the most useful things to field in the northern flank that we currently cannot …”

“Can I just take you back to space? The UK and most European operations, as I understand it, rely pretty heavily on US optical earth observation—not SAR, just optical cameras. Do you think there is a place for the UK to have sovereign earth observation satellites? Is that something you endorse?”

“Is that a no?”

“What kind of ISR?”

“Fair enough. I guess I meant capabilities independent from America.”

“Would it be possible to hear from the Brigadier on this?”

“I would challenge that: some of them are quite cheap. Some of them are really expensive, but they are getting cheaper year on year. The context for why we are asking about this is that the Committee was in Norway recently. We spoke about Lunna House earlier. As my colleague alluded to, within that there is some schedul…”

“I am very grateful to hear that the Minister has engaged with coastguard rescue officers in Southampton, which is typical of his diligent manner and his approach to difficult issues like this. I invite him to interact with my constituents who are part of the Plymouth coastguard rescue team, who tell me harrowing storie…”

“On that point, will the hon. Member give way?”

“On that point, will the hon. Member give way?”

“We have mentioned before that some countries do a better job than us at informing citizens of the need to be resilient. A couple of weeks ago, the Committee was in Norway, where they do that much better. In Norway, they mandate that everyone should have seven days’ supply at home—that is similar to what you were saying…”

“We await further details on that. General, if I could ask you a different question entirely about taking the SDR and the defence investment plan as one and putting them together, and your views on priorities. I asked the previous Defence Secretary this same question. There are 62 recommendations in the SDR, and we have…”

“I have a quick one. Lord Robertson, you spoke about how the UK provides the nuclear deterrent for all our European allies. You said how expensive that is and how it squeezes the rest of our defence capabilities. We provide that for countries such as Poland, Germany, the Baltics and the Nordics. In Turkey this week, our…”

“I agree with that. Would you support a very radical change in how we in the UK come up with decisions on defence spending, so we have a budget that is passed through Parliament each year? Obviously, that would be hugely different. Even in the defence investment plan that we have had through in the last couple of weeks,…”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we are a bit tight on time. America do it: they do not have a problem with classification in the Pentagon; they still put a budget through Congress. The French put a budget through the National Assembly; they do not have a problem with classification. In my view, the classification issue is more…”

“The investment plan lays out that this country will spend £63 billion on our nuclear deterrent over the next few years, but that is not just to keep the UK safe; we offer that as an umbrella protection across our European NATO allies. That is a massive point. It is extremely expensive; it is more than some entire Depar…”

“Which would you do?”

“The hon. Member mentions bomb disposal. He may not know that we have seen two significant bomb disposal events in Plymouth in the last couple of years. Does he agree that Armed Forces Day this Saturday is a great opportunity to thank our military community for keeping safe everyone who lives in residential areas, espec…”

“But right now?”