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Defence in the World

I reiterate to the hon. Gentleman what I have just said: there is no intention to mothball the site. The Army will assume ownership, following the vacation, in 2015. I am more than happy to talk to him in more detail about how this will go forward. My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, South-West (Mr. Davidson) is a consistent, coherent and dogged advocate of his constituents in support of the carriers. I think that he was right to highlight the revealing testiness of the response from the Conservatives when they said that they would examine the break clauses of the contract on day one of a Conservative Government. That is in contrast to the actions we have taken in placing the orders and cutting the steel. Given the alacrity and enthusiasm with which the Conservative party is committed to going significantly beyond any savings that we have put forward in the way of cuts in public expenditure, the Conservatives have a real job of persuasion to do. Finally, the hon. Member for Westbury (Dr. Murrison) wound up for the Opposition. There was one issue on which I strongly agreed with him—the need to get away from the tribalism of the services. I wholly share his concern in that regard but I will take no lectures from Conservative Members on service accommodation, which has been a problem for decades. We have struggled for 13 years to manage what we inherited from the last Conservative Government, particularly their scandalous PFI scheme, which defies any logic in terms of value for money. Overall, we have had a good debate. We should recognise that there is more that unites us on defence than divides us. Where we can, we need to make common cause, particularly in respect of our mission in Afghanistan. Our armed forces deserve nothing less. Question put and agreed to. Resolved,"That this House has considered the matter of defence in the world."