Speeches by Rigby.

“I don’t think there is any suggestion whatsoever that people go without. To take Mr Dhesi’s point, the defence and security of this country is the No. 1 duty of any Government. That is inherent in the Prime Minister saying that defence will be the No. 1 priority at the next spending review. We have made progress toward…”

“No. Obviously, this is not peculiar to this country, but much has been made of the relationship between the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence. Because of the changing nature of the threat that we face—that threat is clearly increasing; I am very clear about that—it is increasingly important for the Treasury and the …”

“I don’t, I am afraid. Can I turn to my official? I want to give you another chance.”

“You are absolutely right to refer to the previous Defence Secretary. His resignation letter is in the public domain, and he said what he said, but the DIP that has been delivered is different, and it contains a different capability.”

“What Minister Pollard is getting at—indeed, I was trying to allude to it too—is that the capabilities are different. There is an emphasis on more technology and more autonomous technology in particular. That goes to the changing profile of the spend.”

“Defence, in my view, is a core engine for growth.”

“No, I do not see it as a drain.”

“What exactly do you mean in terms of the financial detail? You don’t mean where the money will come from—”

“I would have to repeat that there was never a formal ask of that.”

“As you know, there was a long period of negotiation. The £15 billion figure in the DIP is what was alighted on by the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Defence to fund all the capability detailed in this document. As I said, it is key to make it clear that the £15 billion additional in the D…”

“Specifically, a £400 million—”

“Minister Pollard may want to speak to this as well, but as for exactly how and why the current Defence Secretary is comfortable with the DIP as it is, he had very good reason to be so. As to your specific question about what is different, there is a £500 million transformation fund that is intended to go towards some o…”

“Yes.”

“I am not exactly sure from which point and onwards particular requests were made, but I can see the logic—were this to have been the logic—in waiting until publication of the DIP.”

“Specifically on the front-loading of the RDEL to CDEL?”

“There are additional things that are covered within the defence investment plan. That is absolutely right.”

“You are absolutely right that the DIP covers the next four years. As I was saying in response to a question from the Chair, the £15 billion is part of an additional £300 billion over the next four years. Most importantly, the Prime Minister has been clear that at the point of the next spending review, defence will be t…”

“As for exactly how the money will be spent, I think that there is detail in the DIP, and Minister Pollard can talk to some of what capability can buy. That point around defence being the No. 1 priority at the next spending review is really important, because that will set the trajectory for the purposes of our NATO tar…”

“I see. As Minister Pollard said, the £28 billion figure that you referred to is not something we recognise. I was not in post at the time, but my understanding is that that was never a formal ask made of the Treasury. Obviously, there is £15 billion additional funding in the DIP, but the right way to look at this is as…”

“We have said that in the next Parliament we will get to 3%. I understand that the question is being asked, “When in the next Parliament?”, and I come back to the fact that the Prime Minister has said that defence will be the number one priority at the next spending review. The Ministry of Defence’s budget is already gr…”