Speeches by Pollard.

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If only we had a Scottish Government who were investing in defence skills rather than one who dither on defence. The Scottish Government did not invest in the welding centre in Glasgow; it required a Labour Government in the UK to step in and invest. We are delivering for defence. Th…”

“Yes, I am very happy to do so. I am meeting north-east colleagues about how we can drive more jobs and opportunity. As we look at establishing not just growth zones but defence technical excellence colleges and the six new munitions and energetics factories, there is a strong case for the north-east to receive some of …”

“We want to direct more of our increasing defence budget at British companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to see how we can encourage her business to win more defence contracts and to feed back on how we can be better in allowing SMEs to access the defence fundi…”

“I am happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss this further. The last Government, I am afraid, left not only our weapons stockpiles almost empty, but far too many of our parts stockpiles as well. We are looking at investing in that as part of our defence investment plan, but I am happy to meet her to discuss the matter fu…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for raising the opportunities in the south-west. There is a huge skilled workforce in the south-west region and a huge amount of economic activity already present, but we want there to be even more. That is why we are working with local government, and with regional government where it exists, acr…”

“I thank my constituency neighbour for raising issues involving the south-west. I am actually opening that factory in the hon. Member’s constituency next week, and I look forward to seeing her there to make the case further for it. The defence investment plan, which will be published later this year, will set out what w…”

“As a very proud Labour and Co-operative MP, I know just how important it is to use community energy to create good renewable energy and cut energy bills. I would be very happy to speak to my hon. Friend about that. We are looking at the 1% of Britain that we own as a Department to see how we can not only deliver defenc…”

“Yes.”

“I join my hon. Friend in thanking his constituent for his creativity and work. Defence is one of the largest apprenticeship employers in the country, with over 24,000 apprentices. The Navy is No. 2 and the RAF is No. 4, and I am proud that the Army has been named the No. 1 apprenticeship employer. We are doing even mor…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the important work he has been doing alongside other Lancashire MPs not only Labour Members, but on a cross-party basis—in support of the workforce at Samlesbury and Warton. He says that Lancashire won, but I should place on the record that a key part was played by the Yorkshire Defence Secre…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his warm welcome of this deal. The message that goes out loud and clear to the workforce of not just BAE Systems, but the entire supply chain, is one of cross-party support for their work that this statement has announced. On the question of the Istanbul mayor, it is not for the Ministry …”

“I thank the right hon. Member for his welcome, and for his thanks to my immediate predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Garston (Maria Eagle). The partnership we are seeking to develop and which we are enhancing with the signing of the Typhoon deal between the UK and Türkiye is not just about a jet…”

“As a fellow south-west MP, I know how important defence is to our region, and how important it is that we not only continue the investment in our armed forces, but renew those capabilities. Space has a critical part to play in our future capabilities and, indeed, the ability of our armed forces to deploy with effect to…”

“I am heaping praise on the workforce in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and across Lancashire. It makes it so much easier to sell our products when we have a world-class workforce producing world-class products. I am sorry that he was not able to join me on my visit, but I know that he is a regular visitor to those f…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his welcome, and for the support he has provided to the workforce at Samlesbury, and indeed in the wider supply chain. I was at Warton and Samlesbury last week to see and hear from apprentices, especially at the BAE Systems skills centre, about the opportunities that an apprenticeship has ope…”

“With your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to update the House on the UK-Türkiye deal to sell 20 British-built Typhoon fighter jets. On Monday, the Prime Minister travelled to Ankara with the Defence Secretary, where he finalised an agreement with President Erdoğan for Türkiye to purchase 20 British-built…”

“I am happy to write to the right hon. Gentleman about the precise details of that deal. I politely say to him that the future is crewed, uncrewed and autonomous. That is what the strategic defence review set out, and that is why the platforms that we are looking at, such as GCAP, will start as a crewed platform but hav…”

“I suspect that I will need to meet my hon. Friend to get to the bottom of that question, but I am very happy to do so. As a nation, we certainly welcome the investment of overseas firms in the UK. The UK is a good place to invest in defence and to start a defence company. We need to make sure that all our contracts, bi…”

“The armed forces parliamentary scheme is a brilliant opportunity for parliamentarians with or without defence knowledge to learn more about our platforms and, perhaps most importantly, about our people. The RAF crews that we forward-deployed to Poland to help to support our eastern flank allies did a superb job, as are…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for championing his workforce. One of the things that makes this House stand in contrast with some other places around the world is that we can, on a cross-party basis, support our defence industry and the people who are working hard to keep our nation safe, including those who work at GE Aer…”