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Debate on Thursday, 9 October 2008, in the House of Commons, led by Bob Ainsworth. The answering member was Julian Lewis.

Defence in the UK

Debate on a motion to consider the matter of defence in the UK.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
480 c449-510 
Session
2007-08
Department
Ministry of Defence
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Defence Training Review Package 1
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Written statements
House of Commons
Defence: Training Review
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Written statements
House of Lords
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 480 c469 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the next hon. Member to speak, may I say to the House that a 15-minute limit on...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c453 (Link to this contribution) I am coming to the point on which the hon. Gentlemen probably want to intervene. Hon. Members will b...
Show all contributions (91)
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c453 (Link to this contribution) I could name the people to whom I have spoken, and the right hon. Gentleman could name the person to...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c452 (Link to this contribution) I was interested by the furore among Conservative Members at the changes that were made last year. I...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 480 c452 (Link to this contribution) I can only say that yesterday I was talking to a senior managing director of a very important defenc...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c452 (Link to this contribution) Jackal provides an altogether different capability from Snatch. Jackal is a highly mobile, highly ar...
Gerald Howarth | 480 c452 (Link to this contribution) Before the Minister took the interventions about armoured vehicles, he was referring to the extraord...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c451 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right, in that we must stay at the very forefront of technological development...
Nick Harvey | 480 c451-2 (Link to this contribution) I know that people say that one should never ask a question in politics unless one knows the answer,...
Philip Hollobone | 480 c450 (Link to this contribution) When we debated these issues before the recess, the vulnerability of the Snatch Land Rover to attack...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c450-1 (Link to this contribution) Mastiff has delivered a high level of protection for our troops and is very well thought of but as t...
Julian Brazier | 480 c451 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is being generous in giving way. May I take him back to his earlier answer, in which he...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 480 c450 (Link to this contribution) The Defence Committee visited Abbey Wood last week. It was a most valuable visit. We asked the chief...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c450 (Link to this contribution) At the top level, the answer is the Secretary of State and my new ministerial friend, my hon. Friend...
Linda Gilroy | 480 c450 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend also pay tribute to all those involved in bringing the Jackal vehicle forw...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c450 (Link to this contribution) That is my hon. Friend's favourite because it is produced in her constituency. I have seen the produ...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c449 (Link to this contribution) I would like to begin by offering my deepest condolences to the families of the 10 service personnel...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c454 (Link to this contribution) I am aware of all the ongoing publicity about the difficulties, particularly those in defence packag...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c456 (Link to this contribution) The armed forces compensation scheme is for people who are injured, not those who are killed. Separa...
James Gray | 480 c456 (Link to this contribution) On the question of compensation, especially for those who have been killed, will the Minister consid...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c455-6 (Link to this contribution) I try to get round as many establishments as I can, and I will continue to do so now that Parliament...
Bob Russell | 480 c455 (Link to this contribution) I associate myself with the condolences in the Minister's opening remarks. In my constituency, 16 Ai...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c454-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is obviously right; it is as important, and perhaps more so in some instances, to...
Mike Penning | 480 c454 (Link to this contribution) The Minister referred to bullying. I agree that the Army, in particular, should do as much as possib...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c454 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman has a national interest too, but he has a particular interest in t...
James Gray | 480 c456 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way as I did not explain myself clearly. When a member of t...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c456 (Link to this contribution) I will talk to the hon. Gentleman later and ensure that we are doing what we can. I understand his r...
Brian Jenkins | 480 c456 (Link to this contribution) On a similar point, is my right hon. Friend satisfied that the individual and the family are support...
Tobias Ellwood | 480 c459 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way a second time. About three weeks ago, I had the opportu...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c458-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right that the deal that was done by the previous Government has left us a leg...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c459 (Link to this contribution) We need to watch closely our ability to recruit and retain pilots, among other groups. I refer not o...
Tobias Ellwood | 480 c457 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to get into the debate about the Forsyth commission, but it mentioned the importance o...
Bob Russell | 480 c458 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister confirm that all that public money is being invested in housing stock owned by a c...
Julian Brazier | 480 c460 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way yet again. There is not a single class of helicopter us...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c460 (Link to this contribution) I was about to move on to the issue of reserves. As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have commissioned a...
Julian Brazier | 480 c463 (Link to this contribution) Interrupting my hon. Friend's excellent remarks, would he like to put it on the record that several ...
Julian Lewis | 480 c463 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the Under-Secretary is getting off to such a good start. I shall certainly do th...
Lord Beamish | 480 c463 (Link to this contribution) I am sad to hear about the case to which the hon. Gentleman refers. Would he send me the details of ...
Julian Lewis | 480 c460-2 (Link to this contribution) I join the Minister in paying tribute to the 10 service personnel who lost their lives on operations...
Linda Gilroy | 480 c463 (Link to this contribution) I know that the hon. Gentleman is in many respects a very fair person, and that he would want to pay...
Julian Lewis | 480 c463 (Link to this contribution) Of course they have. The Minister says that most of the things in the commission's report were alrea...
Julian Lewis | 480 c463-4 (Link to this contribution) Of course, all defence decisions are matters of priority in the budget. The report's recommendations...
Mike Penning | 480 c464 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for his generosity in giving way. The all-party Army group organised the para...
Julian Lewis | 480 c465-6 (Link to this contribution) I fully take the reproof from my right hon. Friend. He is absolutely right on that point. Of course,...
Julian Lewis | 480 c466 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. Now is not the time for me to go back to one of my favourite themes, the folly of the 10...
Julian Brazier | 480 c466 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for giving away. He is making some powerful remarks. Does he ag...
Julian Lewis | 480 c466-8 (Link to this contribution) I would rather not at the moment, because I am conscious that we have only a limited time for the de...
Linda Gilroy | 480 c466 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Tobias Ellwood | 480 c468 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a powerful statement as to one reason why we are spending so long in Afghan...
Lord Beamish | 480 c469 (Link to this contribution) As I said to the hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis), if my hon. Friend has specific cases ...
Alison Seabeck | 480 c469 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to be able to participate in this debate following a year of silence as a Government ...
Julian Lewis | 480 c468-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is exactly right. As has been seen to happen as a result of the successful American g...
Mark Pritchard | 480 c468 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government of Pakistan need to do all that they can to ensure tha...
Julian Lewis | 480 c468 (Link to this contribution) I endorse entirely my hon. Friend's comments, and I pay tribute to him for the interest that he has ...
James Gray | 480 c475 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will be relieved to hear that my hon. Friend the shadow Defence Secretary is comm...
Nick Harvey | 480 c473-5 (Link to this contribution) I want to start by echoing the words of tribute and condolence to those who have lost their lives or...
Doug Henderson | 480 c479 (Link to this contribution) I understand why the hon. Gentleman wants to get involved in party political points, but I have no i...
Crispin Blunt | 480 c478-9 (Link to this contribution) I agree that the questions that the hon. Gentleman poses are extremely important. I would add that w...
Doug Henderson | 480 c479-81 (Link to this contribution) I do not quite take the same view as the hon. Gentleman. I do not know how much of my speech I will ...
Mark Pritchard | 480 c479 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentions Russia; is he aware of comments made by President Medvedev in the past 4...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 480 c476 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman's concerns about the number of helicopters that our armed f...
Doug Henderson | 480 c477-8 (Link to this contribution) I start by welcoming the new Front-Bench team. I have known the Under-Secretary of State for Defence...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 480 c482-3 (Link to this contribution) These debates always produce well informed and interesting speeches from well informed and interesti...
Julian Brazier | 480 c483 (Link to this contribution) There is a point to add to my right hon. Friend's strong points. The last big study—in 1995, if I re...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 480 c483 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend, apart from his lapse into MOD-speak. I have no doubt that PVR means pre...
Julian Brazier | 480 c488-91 (Link to this contribution) I, too, congratulate the three new Ministers in the Ministry of Defence. I shall be brief, as I am c...
David Wright | 480 c485-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the Chairman of the Defence Committee. I join others in welcoming t...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 480 c483-5 (Link to this contribution) I shall move on to this country's defence industries. As the Minister of State said, we need a stro...
Ann Winterton | 480 c500-1 (Link to this contribution) I associate myself with the remarks made by the Government and Opposition Front Benchers at the outs...
David Kidney | 480 c498-99 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased for my hon. Friends the Members for North Durham (Mr. Jones), and for Grantham and Stam...
James Gray | 480 c495-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure, of course, to follow the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton (Linda Gilroy), whose kn...
Linda Gilroy | 480 c491-5 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Canterbury (Mr. Brazier), and I pay tribute to him fo...
Mark Pritchard | 480 c501-3 (Link to this contribution) I would like to put on record my tribute to the former Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for...
Crispin Blunt | 480 c503-4 (Link to this contribution) Before Front Benchers are given that opportunity, let me try to make the four points that I wanted t...
Gerald Howarth | 480 c504-8 (Link to this contribution) As is usual on these occasions, we have had an extremely well informed debate, with some very intere...
Crispin Blunt | 480 c504 (Link to this contribution) If my hon. Friend will forgive me, I shall not give way because I have one more minute in which I wa...
Lord Beamish | 480 c508 (Link to this contribution) I start by associating myself with the expressions of sympathy to those who have fallen over the sum...
Lord Beamish | 480 c508-10 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman says, it will be the only time. I also thank everyone for the kind letters tha...
Julian Lewis | 480 c464 (Link to this contribution) First, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend and my hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray),...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c457 (Link to this contribution) The truth is that I am not satisfied and, as my hon. Friend knows, we have done a fair amount of wor...
Mark Pritchard | 480 c454 (Link to this contribution) As the Minister knows, the defence training review programme is the largest private finance initiati...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c458 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman knows that the money was raised by Help for Heroes and that they have now complet...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 480 c464 (Link to this contribution) Most unusually, I want to disagree with my hon. Friend. He said that he hoped that the level of 79 p...
Nick Harvey | 480 c475-6 (Link to this contribution) All parties in this House are probably committed to such a review occurring. I know that a defence o...
Alison Seabeck | 480 c469-73 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend. My understanding is that the British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association h...
Bob Ainsworth | 480 c459-60 (Link to this contribution) I have reeled off a list of things that we have done to try to address the recruitment and retention...
Nick Harvey | 480 c476-7 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman makes a good point. I am not suggesting abandoning completely movements on ...
Subjects
Compensation Armed forces Defence Deployment Arms trade Defence equipment Cadets Bomb disposal Iraq Pay Recruitment Peacekeeping operations Staff Training Afghanistan
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