Speeches by Pollard.

“Through the defence industrial strategy, the Ministry of Defence will strengthen the defence industrial base by supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, fostering collaboration with industry and academia, creating jobs, enhancing exports support and adopting sustainable procurement practices. These measures will …”

“This Government’s approach is to create jobs and opportunity through the increasing defence budget in every part of the United Kingdom, including Scotland. The Norway frigate deal highlights how a UK Government selling our wares and our expertise on the global stage can provide additional jobs, with 4,000 jobs from tha…”

“My hon. Friend is a real champion of his constituents who work at RAF Wyton, and all those who could work there through the expanded opportunities, which I have spoken to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) about. I am glad that there is cross-party support for the investment that this Government could mak…”

“As I will shortly outline to the House, as part of the launch of the defence industrial strategy, this Government will set out an ambitious skills package that will grow, retain and develop the well-paid, high-skilled workforce that the UK requires to boost jobs and make defence an engine for growth in every nation and…”

“I thank my constituency neighbour for her advocacy. All the growth deals that we have announced today, including the Plymouth growth deal, will help the wider region in each location, not just the specific location, to build a skills base that will help the suppliers as well as the primes in those locations. My hon. Fr…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention, and for remembering Frank Jeremy Hedges in her remarks. It is so important that we remember all those who served in every part of the second world war. Just as we remember all those who served in the European theatres and who lost their lives, or who went to war and came bac…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, which gives me an opportunity to inform the House that there are resources available for our schools. “Our Shared Story” is one of those resources, which will enable people to find out more and tell the story in a way that is age-appropriate for all our young people. I am gr…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that. A theme picked up by a number of colleagues, including the Chair of the Defence Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi), was that old adversaries can become good friends. When there are rising tensions and conflicts in the world, it is worth remembering, 80 years on f…”

“It is a particular privilege to close this debate, which has seen such a strong and united House say thank you to those who served in the Pacific theatre in the second world war. A number of Members have spoken about their family members, but we thank all those who stood up to serve, defend our values and ensure the fr…”

“The level of politeness that we saw in the rest of the debate has not been reflected in the right hon. Gentleman’s remarks. Turning to the costs, the original outlined business case approved the acquisition of five Wedgetail Mk 1 aircraft. Due to the wider fiscal challenges faced by the Department, the programme was re…”

“I know the right hon. Gentleman is trying to be aggressive and angry, but I do not want to give the wrong answer when I am standing in for another Minister. I am happy to ensure that a letter is written and shared with colleagues here so that the answers are given properly. I have been very clear about—”

“I am happy to come back to the right hon. Gentleman in due course. I have other hon. Members’ questions to address first, and I will not be spoken over—thank you.”

“I am happy to come back to the right hon. Gentleman in due course.”

“I congratulate the hon. Member for Dumfries and Galloway (John Cooper) on securing this debate. I have to warn him that he is sounding like a very good shadow Minister Padawan on these matters, so I expect him to be forceful in pursuing this type of stuff. As hon. Members will have spotted, I am not the Minister for De…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. It is worth noting, because to succeed we need people at the point of the spear and we need people who are the spear. All too often in our debates, we neglect those who support, who engineer, and who are the backbone of our military. Having Sir Rich in the new role as C…”

“I have lots of points to cover, but I will happily come back to the right hon. Gentleman.”

“I shall also deal with the earlier comment about where the aircraft will be maintained. I am happy to confirm that they will be maintained in the UK. I did not get all of the right hon. Member’s questions down in detail. I do not want to give an incorrect answer, especially as I am standing in for the Minister for Vete…”

“My hon. Friend makes a strong argument. I support the wording of the strategic defence review, which talks of possibly buying more E-7 Wedgetails when the economic conditions allow. Of course, thanks to the decisions taken by the Prime Minister, we will be spending 2.5% of GDP on defence by April 2027, 3% in the next P…”

“If the right hon. Gentleman interrupts each sentence, I will not get the full sentence out. I appreciate that he has a style that he has to maintain, but this is not helpful and not in the spirit or the tone in which the debate has been conducted. I will conclude briefly, so that my exchanges with him do not lower the …”

“It is absolutely something that we are aware of. I realise that not all NATO roles are in the European Union—some are further afield—but for the ones that are EU based, especially where we are filling at NATO headquarters, SHAPE, or the maritime missions in Italy, for instance, the Brexit deal removed the opportunities…”