Speeches by Pollard.

“I am seeing the process, yes. The process of cultural change is happening in the defence reform work—having shaken up the organisation, in separating and being clear about the new responsibilities between the Department of State, MSHQ, NAD group and the Defence Nuclear Enterprise. That is creating culture change within…”

“I hope they are already saying that in relation to Ukraine procurement, because we work enormously with SMEs in that space. I think they should be able to see that, although that is a story that is, for very obvious reasons, harder to tell. When the SME support hub is at full operating capacity, when it comes out of th…”

“The defence investment plan will set out the spending priorities, and we certainly need to be on a journey towards having an integrated air and missile defence at a level that we can have more confidence in, based on the experience of what we can see Russia using. As part of that, we need to square a circle of how we u…”

“An entirely fair question. The defence investment plan later this year will set out what we are buying and what our long-term signal to the sector is. However, we have been very clear that we want to invest more into integrated air missile defence. That is why the SDR not only sets that as a priority but allocates £1 b…”

“But certainly the SDR makes clear our commitment to GCAP. However, on the details of that point, I will have to write to the Committee, or ask Maria to do so.”

“I can absolutely understand where you are coming from, but it is worth saying that an F-35 is a different platform with different roles than a Typhoon—”

“I know the workforce and I know the supply chain, having met many, especially in opposition, when I covered more of that brief than I do today. They are superb and that is certainly the reason why the Secretary of State and MinDPI have been working in this area. It is probably worth saying that a Typhoon buy and an F-3…”

“As that is a procurement matter, it is not within the area that I look after. I am happy to ask the Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry to write to the Committee with the details, but I do not have the knowledge of that, as it is outside my swim lane.”

“Procurement matters would be matters for Maria Eagle, so I would not be able to answer that question in detail. Certainly, preserving our capability to build high-end combat air platforms is absolutely essential to our national security; that is something that I think everyone here would agree on. It is not just about …”

“First of all, the defence industrial strategy, which will cover some of these points, will be out later this year. Not everything that we intend to publish was in the SDR, because there are elements of detail and focus on sectors for which the defence industrial strategy is probably the better place. Those will be feat…”

“I hope that this is not a party political issue, because many of the Members raising concerns about whistleblowing in the other place are doing so because they recognise that cultural issues within our armed forces need to be addressed and to get clarity on what the Government seek to do. I hope that from the statement…”

“I beg to move, That the draft Armed Forces Act 2006 (Continuation) Order 2025, which was laid before this House on 9 June, be approved. The draft order will address the constitutional requirement, under the Bill of Rights 1688, that a standing Army, and by extension the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, must receive …”

“I beg to move, That this House insists on Commons amendment 2A, to which the Lords have disagreed, and disagrees with the Lords in Lords amendments 2B and 2C proposed in lieu of that amendment. Before I start, I place on record my thanks to all those right hon. and hon. Members who supported Armed Forces Day events at …”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that point, and I agree with what he says. It is precisely the reason that when the Defence Secretary was the shadow Defence Secretary, and when I was the shadow Minister for the Armed Forces, we had a position of cross-party support on defence matters. It is really important, I thi…”

“I think the unity we saw on the Chagos deal is that the Conservatives started a deal and we finished it; they agreed it was the right thing to start negotiations and held 11 rounds, and we agreed it was the right thing to complete that deal. We put our national security first in that respect, secured the future of the …”

“I thank all Members for their contributions to this debate. It was a good one, and I will refer briefly to a number of the issues that have been raised. First, I detect strong support for our armed forces on all sides of the House, which is good to see, so I hope there will not be a Division. This debate has shown the …”

“The right hon. Gentleman will know, because I have had a similar conversation in a variety of different formats over recent weeks, that the policy intention of the Northern Ireland Office is to repeal and, importantly, replace the unlawful Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023. It has been foun…”

“I thank the right hon. Member for his contribution. Indeed, it is a matter that my colleagues in the Northern Ireland Office follow closely as that is the lead Department with responsibility for the repealing and replacing of the legacy Act. I am certain that he will continue making suggestions in that way. It is not f…”

“I knew he was tempted to go into polar nerdery! I would be happy to speak to the hon. Member about some of those aspects. Clearly, when it comes to the provision of our ships and capabilities, it is not just an MOD matter; it is one that we share, in particular with our Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office coll…”

“I am afraid I have to conclude because of time, but I would be very happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss this further. I can reassure him that the Royal Marines have a very bright and strong future in our armed forces.”