Speeches by Healey.

“I hope the reassurance that the hon. Gentleman asks for can be provided by the fact that SACEUR has been at the heart of the discussions and developments, close to the military planning for the deployment of the multinational force for Ukraine, and an important figure in the discussions of security guarantees.”

“I can indeed. In recent months, I have been making sure that Defence has been putting in the investment to ensure that, at the point of peace, we are ready to move and to deploy and, above all, with the safety of our forces in mind, that they are properly equipped and protected to do the job.”

“My hon. Friend is gently chiding me for overlong answers, and I take that point. He is entirely right about how our way of life, the operation of our economy and the way we live are dependent on undersea infrastructure. That is why we are stepping up our vigilance, surveillance and defence of that.”

“The right hon. Gentleman is right to point to the recent record—the 14 years of hollowing out and underfunding of Britain’s armed forces that my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) mentioned. I am proud of this Government’s investment of an extra £5 billion in defence in the first year, and…”

“I am interested to hear that observation from the right hon. Gentleman, who of course was a Defence Minister for several of the 14 years during which his Government never moved to introduce any sort of offsetting policy. We are consulting on that now. We think offsetting has an important role to play in Britain’s futur…”

“I can indeed. My hon. Friend is right: his constituency hosts not only some important big UK defence primes, but many very small innovative firms. That is why, as a new Government, we said that we would set a new target for the proportion of defence investment going directly to British SMEs. We set up a new SME growth …”

“I do indeed. The hon. Gentleman knows as much about defence as anyone else in this House, and I pay tribute to him for his work on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegation. The commitment this Government made in our first year to increasing defence spending by the largest sustained amounts since the end of the cold w…”

“I fundamentally disagree with the hon. Gentleman. In June, the strategic defence review recommended that Britain consider becoming part of NATO’s dual-capable aircraft nuclear mission, and within weeks that is exactly what we committed to do. We will now go ahead and purchase the F-35As so that Britain can play a full …”

“Because we have in place restrictions on export licences for any components where there is a risk that they could be used for the breaching of international humanitarian law in Gaza.”

“The right hon. Gentleman will recognise that the strategic defence review pointed out that we must do more to take seriously our homeland defence, and we are. It pointed out that we needed to do more on our integrated air and missile defence for the UK. We are, and we will.”

“I can indeed. A wish a happy Christmas to the hon. Gentleman and the whole House.”

“I welcome my hon. Friend’s ten-minute rule Bill, and I would like to meet her to look at the issue seriously. She is quite right that this country has never had someone like the armed forces commissioner, who will be a new independent voice, enshrined in statute, reporting directly to Parliament and not to Ministers. T…”

“I do indeed. That is why I am convening, and will co-chair tomorrow, the latest meeting of the 50-nation-strong Ukraine defence contact group. We will be looking to step up the support that we are able to give Ukraine now to keep it in the fight, alongside the work that we are doing in the coalition of the willing, so …”

“The hon. Gentleman is entirely right. Since the general election, Barrow has seen more than 1,000 extra jobs in the shipyard alone. It will have seen the long-term commitment that this Government have made to Team Barrow, which is the result of national and local government, and other agencies, working together. We are…”

“I can indeed. My hon. Friend is right: not only is this the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war—spending committed by this Government—and not only are we delivering 2.5% of GDP for defence three years earlier than anyone expected, but this Government also said that we would dire…”

“We are working with the Welsh Government, Welsh industry, companies like those that my hon. Friend mentioned, and Welsh academics and universities to work out the dimensions of a Wales defence growth deal. It will be one of five growth deals backed by £250 million in this Parliament. New drone technology autonomy will …”

“I do indeed recognise my hon. Friend’s excitement, as she puts it, about the opportunities created by the deep space advanced radar capability, the new drone developments and projects that we will bring to Wales. As we make defence an engine for growth, we are also putting the UK at the leading edge of innovation in NA…”

“We were talking about the strategic defence partnership agreement. We wanted to follow that up with an agreement on Security Action for Europe, but that proved impossible to negotiate in a way that was good value for the British defence industry and the British taxpayer. That will not stop us from promoting the cause o…”

“I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the speech that the Chief of the Defence Staff will make tonight, in which he will argue that the price of peace is rising. He will set out exactly how this requires a response from the whole of society, not just a strengthening of our armed forces.”

“The House will know to take no lessons from the right hon. Gentleman. When he was in government, his munitions strategy was often promised and never published. His drone strategy had more pictures than pages—and no funding. His Government’s defence funding plan was published as an election gimmick just weeks before the…”