Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that UK defence capability can effectively respond to a threat from Russia.

Penny Mordaunt

As outlined in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review our commitment to collective defence and security through NATO remains as strong as ever. Our 2% defence spending pledge will ensure that we stay NATO’s strongest military power in Europe.

In 2017 the UK will lead the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, formed in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, and we will make a significant contribution to the force every year of this Parliament. As well as providing Typhoons to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission, we have provided ships and Army units to NATO exercises to reassure our Allies against the threat from Russia, and we will continue to do so. We are joining the German-US Trans-Atlantic Capability Enhancement and Training initiative in the Baltic states and Poland, sharing our military expertise.