---

Defence Policy

We are actually supplementing that. That is crucial. The constant thrust of the comments we hear from the Opposition is that we are in a war situation and we should devote all our resources and efforts to that front-line campaign, and I think that that is the right thing to do. The hon. Gentleman also asked about Regional Command South and which nation would be replacing the regional battle group south. That is a question for NATO, but our current understanding is that the battle group will not be immediately replaced. I stand by our decision, however, because our decision to redeploy that battle group is about thickening our forces in Helmand, and particularly about helping us tackle the huge challenge of improvised explosive devices. The hon. Gentleman also asked about the make-up and sustainability of the 9,000 commitment and the 9,500. In terms of the 9,000, that will be made up of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards and elements of 30 Signal Regiment, 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment and 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment. In terms of the additional 500, that will involve the deployment of 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh. There is a statement to that effect in the House of Commons Library. The hon. Gentleman went on to labour a critique by saying that there was a failure to define our strategy in Afghanistan in terms of our national security. I must say that that is what we have been doing for months and years. This is fundamentally about our national security. It is about generating capacity in the Afghan nation and its forces so that it can defend itself and secure its own borders and country, and in the bargain make us and other countries safer from terrorism. That is why we want to generate that capacity; we do not want to be in Afghanistan for ever and a day. We want to reach the point where we can sensibly and safely withdraw. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that if we were to succeed, it would be a fundamental strategic failure for al-Qaeda and other insurgents. Importantly, and conversely, our failure in Afghanistan would be a huge boost for terrorists and violent extremists in every part of the world. That is why this is so fundamentally in our national interest. The hon. Gentleman also asked about helicopters and the two Chinooks, and I can confirm that the funding will come from the Treasury reserve. He asked how long it will be before the last Vectors come out of service in Afghanistan, and I can tell him that a phased withdrawal will be complete by mid to late 2010. He went on to discuss the situation in Iraq. He said that it "beggars belief" that no agreement over the continuation of our naval presence in Iraq has been achieved. This is the reality of politics in a democracy, which is what Iraq is now. There has been a Government-to-Government agreement, but it is now going through its parliamentary procedures and we cannot dictate, from the outside, the time scale of that. The hon. Gentleman also asked whether the training mission would be funded from the Treasury reserve, and I can confirm that it will be. He gave a huge critique of the Government's performance and the situation in terms of equipment, training and everything else that we are doing. Every Member of this House needs to be clear about the fact that the Conservative party is not committing one penny extra of additional expenditure to the defence budget. Words come easily, but we face a hugely challenging situation in Afghanistan and we ought to be debating these issues on their merits and trying, where possible, to achieve a consensus. My hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn) described the letter that he had received from one of his constituents about the tragic loss of her fiancé Kyle Adams and his tragic death. Nothing I, or any of us, can say or do can compensate any individual for the loss of a loved one. I wish to pay tribute to the heroism of Kyle Adams—he was serving our national interest. My hon. Friend asked a particular question about Ministers' attending repatriation ceremonies. That issue comes up repeatedly in the press, but I wish to make it clear that Ministers rightly take military advice from the service chiefs and they have consistently told us that repatriation ceremonies are military occasions for military personnel. In such circumstances, it would be wrong for Ministers to intervene.