---

Defence Policy

I do not think that they will. I hope that they do not and that the hon. Gentleman does not encourage them to. I do not think that he can credibly argue against the idea that Afghanistan should be the main effort. Providing battle-winning kit to our front-line forces is vital, both for success on current operations and the delivery of longer-term military capability. I am publishing today a detailed and thought-provoking report by Bernard Gray on defence acquisition. I apologise again for the fact that my Opposition counterparts have had the report for only a short time; I would have wanted them to have had it for longer. The report, however, is now in the public domain. It has been published as people wanted it to be, and we can now use it to examine how we should go forward. My predecessor and the MOD asked Mr. Gray for a thorough and frank review, and that is what he has delivered. I am very grateful to him for the time and effort that I know he has personally devoted to the task. The report acknowledges the commitment of our people, our long-standing commitment to reform and the progress that we have made. It has also put into perspective some of the very real difficulties that we—and, indeed, all countries—face in this area. The simple fact is that providing the world-class equipment that our forces deserve involves significant technological and other challenges. The report points the way to dealing with those challenges, recognising that cost and time pressures on individual projects are, and will remain, a fact of life. We do not agree with everything in the report, but we do accept most of the recommendations, particularly its two central themes. The first is that we need to bring the equipment programme into balance with the likely resources, and the second is that we need to improve its management and delivery. Today I have set before Parliament an eight-point plan, building on earlier reform, to improve performance radically. Implementation has already begun, and Lord Drayson is leading the work in the Department. We will publish an overarching strategy for acquisition reform in the new year. In going forward, we will work to adjust our equipment programme to bring it into balance with future requirements and resources through the current planning round and, in due course, the strategic defence review that I announced in the summer. I turn to that review. In July, I set in train the process leading to a formal defence review after the election next year. All parties have agreed to the need for a new review. The strategic defence review of 1998 helped our armed forces to move beyond the legacy of the cold war and to configure for recent operations. The pace of change since 1998 has been considerable. We have built on the strategic defence review, not least with the new chapter in 2002, which helped to reflect the immediate implications of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Although some aspects of the strategic defence review endure, some have now been overtaken by events. Among others, the notion of "fast in, fast out" has had a much more limited application than was thought likely at the time. In the future, the need to maintain campaign continuity over long periods will have to be written into strategy, doctrine and organisation. In a speech in September, I set out some of the Department's initial thinking about how global trends will develop, including the character of warfare in which the UK may find herself engaged. I hope that the Green Paper will stimulate a public debate about Britain's role in the world and the shape of the forces that we will need to fulfil our commitments. Going forward, our defence forces will have to balance competing requirements—the need to maintain credibility in the primary role as the ultimate guarantor of territorial integrity and the ability to engage abroad at differing levels of intensity, preventing and resolving conflicts in order to protect national security. The national security strategy, updated this year, sets out the global nature of the threats that we face. In my view, UK security and national interests are underpinned by the ability to project power; the timely application of soft power and conflict prevention should remain a high priority. But when they fail, it is better to deal with threats at a distance; an expeditionary approach, as set out in the strategic defence review, remains valid. I believe that there is a general consensus in the House for such a forward defence posture.