Speeches by Healey.

“You have lost me. The SDR was a reset of this country’s strategic defence and security approach. It was done so to reflect the framework of priorities that we had set out in our manifesto.”

“When you look at the £270 billion we will be spending in this Parliament, the fact we will hit 3% in the next Parliament and we have made a commitment like the other 31 allies as members of NATO to 3.5% on Defence by 2035, this gives us that certain decade of rising defence spending, which I talked about to Ms Scrogham…”

“I absolutely applaud the work that you personally are doing on this territory; the way that you are championing fresh ideas like the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank. One thing that I know you will have noted—Mr Chairman, you will see the results before too long—is we set up a defence finance investment group, som…”

“Mr Thomas, those were not the two lodestars that you saw driving defence decisions under the last Government. We set this out as a Government in the manifesto that you and I were elected on and we have captured it in this first-ever of its kind Strategic Defence Review published last year. It is that Strategic Defence …”

“That was a headline figure. I gave about a 30% increase in Russian vessels intruding and active in wider UK waters; you would not expect me to give a detailed breakdown of those in public. The general may want to add something on the military front of that. The main point is not just that the level of Russian attacks i…”

“The short answer is yes. If you look at cyber, in the last year alone we have had 90,000 separate cyber-attacks for defence. The large majority of those are linked to states and state activity, or state-linked activity. The nature of some cyber-attacks may be different, depending on the states that are behind them. Rus…”

“Yes, and because it was a strong feature of the SDR you will undoubtedly see the defence investment planning transformation to more autonomy accelerated: the creation of an Atlantic Bastion that is a combination of the traditional hard power ships with the new technology of surface and undersea autonomy. That will be p…”

“Is this the same Grant Shapps who renewed the superinjunction in May, just before the start of the general election?”

“They will be part of what we look to pursue over the next decade because we want to implement those parts of the SDR.”

“Giving it away.”

“Just as the Armed Forces Act 2001 required a degree of discussion, agreement and devolution to the devolved Governments, including in Northern Ireland, so too will this Bill. Our officials are in deep discussion with Northern Ireland Office officials. The Minister for the Armed Forces has written to Ministers in the de…”

“The hon. Lady has made a detailed point very clearly—perhaps it is another bid to be a member of the Bill Committee. It is exactly the sort of issue that should be examined in detail at that point in the passage of the Bill. Madam Deputy Speaker, I am sure that you would be the first to endorse the fact that the first …”

“I welcome the leader of Plaid in this House welcoming the Bill and her support for the forces. She is right that the record of the Welsh nation in supporting our armed forces and recruiting some of the best of our armed forces is long and proud. She also knows that the Barnett formula has already delivered a record inc…”

“I will not. I am conscious of the number of hon. Members who want to speak, and I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will want to make a contribution. The reforms are designed to be both flexible and future-proof, allowing defence to adapt to the ever changing and increasing threats. If the strategic defence review were b…”

“I give way to the right hon. Gentleman for the last time.”

“Quite honestly, I was unable to be in the House at the time. That is an important piece of legislation because it paves the way for the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill. It removes the immunity that the right hon. Gentleman’s Government tried to put in place for terrorists. They removed the right of 200 families whose lo…”

“I know about the right hon. Gentleman’s good news and bad news. We will return to that discussion when we return to Committee stage of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill. When we do so, we will have in place strengthened protections for veterans, and that will be a result of the detailed discussions that my right hon. …”

“The right hon. Gentleman knows that he is speaking about the legislative provisions of a different Bill that is before the House. We will deal with that and strengthen protections for veterans. Successive Governments have failed because it has been too difficult, but, with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State fo…”

“My hon. Friend is right. The short answer is that there is record funding to support the mental health and wellbeing of veterans; there are record levels of support for veterans’ groups, with a new wave of Valour centres shortly to be announced by the Minister for Veterans and People; and there is, of course, a commitm…”

“There is a general support for the right hon. Gentleman’s comments on both sides of the House. This Armed Forces Bill, as I will go on to say, commands all-party support, and it is a shame that we have not got all parties in this House to demonstrate that. The bond between the British people and those sworn to defend t…”