Speeches by Pollard.

“We are proud that the growth deals will be in every single part of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. The precise location of those in the devolved Administrations will be set following discussions with those devolved Administrations, including in conjunction with those in Northern Ireland. We are absolute…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for raising that example. Our £8 million investment will create the facility for the build of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s new fleet solid support ships. That is an important part of keeping our Royal Navy supplied well into the future. I am grateful that he spoke about manufacturing, because ther…”

“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…”

“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 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…”

“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…”

“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…”

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

“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.”

“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 …”

“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—”

“The Ministry of Defence will be involved with all of those, but it is for the CDL to make his statement.”

“At the moment, the system works in terms of the structure and there is an understanding of who has responsibility for what. What I think the SDR sets out clearly is the fact that we have under-invested in our homeland defence and under-invested in, or have not really adopted, a whole-of-society approach to meet the thr…”

“It only concerns me if it does not work.”

“Overall responsibility sits with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Cabinet Office, then responsibilities are held across Government for different areas of expertise. For instance, last week, with the Chair, I was in front of the National Security Strategy Joint Committee, and we were looking at underwater…”