Speeches by Martin.

“I thank the right hon. Lady for giving way once again; she is being very generous. What is the point in civil servants doing due diligence if that information is not given to politicians when they make the decisions?”

“They are 3D printing drones in Ukraine now.”

“Thank you, Chair. I convey apologies from Tim Roca, who is stuck in a Bill Committee, otherwise he would be here, and from Sir Bernard Jenkin, who was sitting here but had to go to another engagement. It is actually very simple: there is a huge gap between the risks that we face globally—you only need to open a newspap…”

“Are there no other areas of tech that you think we should look into?”

“I can answer that, because organisations evolve only when they are under threat of extinction, so the MoD and the UK will get their arses in gear—excuse me—only when there is a threat to our national survival.”

“Hew, the further you look back, the further forward you can see so, as the historian on the panel, perhaps you can conclude.”

“Just to finish, we had a conversation earlier about sovereign capability in AI, energy and nuclear; I would probably add intelligence collection to that. We need to do those four, as the UK. What other areas of tech do you think that we should look into? Once you have named those areas, could you comment on where our r…”

“What percentage would you put it at, with your “best model in the world” for superforecasting?”

“Or a Suez, where we rhetorically get ourselves into a fight and cannot cash the cheque. What are your thoughts, Keith?”

“Are we going to reform our systems and processes sufficiently to be ready for war, without ending up in a war?”

“Improbable.”

“All of you have effectively said that we have an analogue MoD in a digital age, and it is totally failing to meet the moment.”

“Is there an extension of that where you have AI that is reading your opponent’s systems and designing the counter, then they are 3D printed and shipped out, and then they are run by a cloud AI where there are no humans? Effectively, your entire defence industrial base would be taken over by agentic AI, which then 3D pr…”

“I want to pick up on your point, Keith, about how the trends in AI and agentic AI are all upwards. As has been mentioned, last week we went to see submarines being built in Barrow. They are obviously massive, exquisite bits of kit that are crewed and take decades to procure. Does that not seem a little mad, holding tho…”

“Thank you.”

“And the importance of—”

“On my hon. Friend’s point about National Highways, the A21 runs through my constituency. It is the road between London and Hastings, and it is single track for most of the way, between halfway through my constituency and Hastings. That is a problem and a bad investment. It is a well-trafficked road. I wonder if it refl…”

“Well, in that case, I would like to ask.”

“I have a brief question. I have put the Ministry of Defence as the responding Department, but is it possible in these applications to ask for the Prime Minister to respond?”

“Like my hon. Friend, I have spent a fair amount of time on the ocean —not rowing but sailing. When sailing across oceans in a small boat, one cannot help but see the seas of plastic, whether left by fishermen or simply thrown overboard, that are carried on currents. Does my hon. Friend think the treaty goes far enough …”