Proceeding contribution from Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 19 October 2010. It occurred during Ministerial statement on Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Strategic Defence and Security Review
Of course all those things, and many other things, were Labour policy. That is the problem. There was no prioritisation, and no sign of how any of it was to be paid for. It is the easiest thing in the world to rack up a defence budget that is £38 billion overspent, but it is a difficult thing to come in and work out what is to be kept and what cannot be kept, and that is what we have had to do. As was pointed out by my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Nicholas Soames), this is, in some ways, the start of a process. The document makes clear how many fast jets we expect to have in 2020. We now have to make decisions between the joint strike fighter and the final tranche of Typhoon. There is extra money for unmanned aerial vehicles, and I think that anyone who has been to Afghanistan and seen the incredible work that is being done there knows that that is a capability in which we should be investing. Let me repeat, however, that it cannot be invested in unless difficult decisions are made elsewhere. We have done that, and the Labour Government did not.
Secondary information
- Type
- Proceeding contribution
- Reference
- 516 c818
- Session
- 2010-12
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Subjects
- Contracts Armed forces Cost effectiveness Defence Army Deployment Air force Cybercrime Defence equipment Finance National security Public expenditure Navy Aircraft carriers Strategic Defence and Security Review
- Link
- View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk
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