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Defence in the UK

The Government pot is as big as it is, no matter where it comes from. The point that I was seeking to make earlier is that a party which, on the one hand, tries to tell the country that we are profligate and spending too much, repeatedly tries to pretend, on the other hand, that it can pull rabbits out of a hat for additional spending on defence and elsewhere to which it knows it is not committed. That is a pretty dangerous thing to do in a democracy, and it will get its come-uppance sooner or later. I was speaking about cadets. We should recognise and be grateful for the supreme dedication of the volunteer instructors who do so much for the Sea, Army and Air Cadets in our communities. Similarly, the reserves bring a range of unique skills to defence and play a vital role on operations. They also bring transferable skills and standards learned during their service back to their civilian lives and their civilian jobs. The House will be aware of our ongoing strategic review of the reserve forces. The review will ensure that we have reserve forces that meet defence needs now and into the future. It will also recognise their fundamental role in society. We will announce the findings of the review in an oral statement to the House shortly.