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Defence Procurement

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox), who made a good speech. He often makes good speeches on this subject, and I have no doubt about the knowledge and commitment that he and his colleagues on the Opposition Front Bench bring to defence matters. When I sat on the Conservative Benches, I often found myself agreeing with them on defence matters. However, it was always difficult to get them to live up to their rhetoric. They were continually saying, as they have said today, that the Government were not procuring enough helicopters, frigates or submarines. There is always a good case to be made for procuring things that are not procured at the moment. There is always a good case to be made for going back to some previous target for procurement of a particular type of equipment. Whenever I asked what the Conservative Front Benchers proposed to do about the problem, however, I always got the same answer that we have heard this afternoon. No, they were not committed to spending any more money. They would either reduce their commitments, or if not, they might think a bit more about it—[Interruption.] Does the hon. Member for Congleton (Ann Winterton) want me to give way?