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Category: Defence

  • Edward Leigh – 2026 Comments on the Middle East

    Edward Leigh – 2026 Comments on the Middle East

    The comments made by Edward Leigh, the Father of the House, in the House of Commons on 13 April 2026.

    The Prime Minister may recall that on day one of this war, I supported his defensive attitude to it and said that we could not change the regime from the air. We agreed and he has been proved right, but—with apologies to Leon Trotsky —we may not be interested in war, but war is interested in us. We all agree that we have to rapidly re-arm, but the trouble is that with an ever-increasing proportion of our economy being taken up by the state pension and benefits, perhaps we cannot afford to do so. Will the Prime Minister work with the Leader of the Opposition to take the necessary—perhaps unpopular—decisions to return defence spending to what we spent in 1989 at the end of the cold war?

    The Prime Minister

    The right hon. Member is right to raise this, and we have already raised defence spending, as he knows, in the most significant way since the cold war. I was clear in the Munich security conference speech that I gave a few weeks ago that we need to go further and faster, and we will. In addition to the funding itself, it is really important that we take this opportunity to collaborate and co-operate with our partners, particularly in Europe, because if all European countries simply increase their spending without regard to the capability that they are using that spending on, we will not make the best of what we have got. Therefore, I am making a dual argument—first, in relation to the actual money we have spent, and secondly in relation to the way we need to collaborate on this with our allies, particularly in Europe, in a way that we have not done, frankly, in decades.

  • Alistair Carns – 2026 Speech at the London Defence Conference

    Alistair Carns – 2026 Speech at the London Defence Conference

    The speech made by Alistair Carns, the Defence Minister, on 11 April 2026.

    First of all, I’d just like to say thank you to the London Defence Conference, but also all of you individually. Saturday afternoon, and you’re all here showing an interest in taking part in defence and security, which is a huge, a huge effort, both professionally and personally, above and beyond the call. So thank you very much for being here.

    I’m due to give the closing address and interestingly, I’ve just got back from Cyprus and Ukraine. Now they’re two very different places, but both tell you the same thing: the world has changed.

    In Ukraine, you see a war evolving in real time. Drones everywhere. The kill chain is now compressed. Front lines that are no longer fixed.

    But you also see something else. A country under sustained attack with thousands of drones and missiles hitting cities night after night, energy infrastructure targeted, families living with constant uncertainty.

    And Russia is not just fighting a war in Ukraine. It is adapting learning, and it’s exporting what it learns. Working with Iran, it’s sharing technology, enabling attacks on our allies.

    We’re seeing that play out in real time, every hour of every day, and we’re seeing the oil price spike to Russia’s benefit.

    So we welcome the ceasefire, and we strongly encourage rapid progress towards a substantive negotiated settlement.

    But in the meantime, Russia has continued its step up strikes on Ukraine, relentlessly and indeed at scale, with around 7000 attacks a day on the front line, and 55,000 drone and missile strikes last year alone, trying to break the country’s will and cohesion as much as its capability.

    And yet, despite all of that, Ukraine still stands. Its economy is under strain. Its infrastructure has been hit repeatedly. Millions have been displaced, and still people go to work, still services operate, still the country fights on. That is resilience.

    It’s not a concept, but as a lived reality, and it should make us all pause for thought. Because if we think resilience is something we can switch on in a crisis. You, I, we are collectively wrong. It has to be built in advance.

    Now I spent 24 years in uniform, and towards end of that time, it was already clear what was going on. You could see warfare changing. You could see the pace of adaptation increasing.

    I watched the 2023 counter offensive on the Zaporizhzhia front, which was fought with courage and determination, stall against 90,000 double stacked anti tank mines and 600,000 anti personnel mines.

    Watching casualties in their thousands, and I saw a lack of resource drive innovation at a pace that was both unstoppable and extraordinary. The kind of innovation that only happens when a nation is under existential pressure, when survival overtakes everything else and for the industry partners out there, when winning overtakes the requirement to make profit.

    And at the same time, you can see we were not moving fast enough. Too often, we were preparing for the last war, not the next one.

    And I came to a simple view, if we did not change a pace, we would fall behind, and that is one of the reasons I indeed am stood here today.

    Drone and uncrewed systems now dominate the battlefield. It’d be remiss of me at the London Defence Conference not to delve into some detail, especially the audience we have here today.

    Now, data, in my mind, is the new gun power, fuelling kill webs and targeting systems across the front line in Ukraine. Now, large conflicts are often measured in statistics, and in some cases, we’re falling into the same trap in Ukraine as a whole.

    But industry is now producing millions of drones. More than 90% of all casualties are linked to drone warfare. 85% of those systems are made in Ukraine.

    Russia is trying to out manufacture Ukraine 7 million drones a year. Just think about the just think about the size and the shape, 7 million drones.

    Now, let me put these figures into a little bit of perspective, because I think it’s useful. Tactics are one thing, but industry and common economics are another.

    On the way back from Ukraine, I was sat in a plane, sort of dabbling with statistics and maths, which is dangerous being an ex Marine, but the rough analysis starts to show the scale of change that we have to go through.

    In Ukraine, one drone equates to a lethality of 22 artillery rounds. Lethality in action, 22 artillery rounds. Now, if you scale that logic up and think not only about the kill chain, but the supply chain behind it, the implications are profound, even more significant beyond the front line, perhaps behind it.

    At the height of the counter offensive, which I mentioned earlier, in 2023 Ukraine, was far between 16 and 18,000 rounds a day in artillery. That’s about 900 tons of metal every day flying through the air.

    An overly simplistic calculation suggests you would need around 57 truckloads of your average truck a day just to move the shells for one day.

    Now, some people will be sceptical about one drone to 22 artillery round stats, and that’s fair enough. Equivalence is never exact, and there are a lot of factors at play, so let me have it. Let’s be fair to some of those individuals.

    At one to 11, you would need 1637 drones to generate the equivalent battlefield effect. That’s two truckloads, not 57. Now for the military people amongst us, think of the logistics behind that. Follow that logic across every part of the battlefield, and you begin to grasp the scale of the challenge that is now required, not tomorrow, but now.

    So what? There are still those who say we will fight differently, that Ukraine offers, in some cases, false lessons, that fifth and sixth generation capability will prevail. In some cases, they’re right, but I would argue they’re also wrong. We will have no choice but to adapt. But it’s not either, either or. It’s a blend. It’s a high, low mix.

    We must continue to learn, but increasingly we must begin to act. My simple vignette and simple maths demonstrate the impact innovation has on logistics.

    But what does that mean for every other factor in the battlefield, our industry, our innovation moves, our supply chains, they all need to see the new reality and adapt now.

    If Ukraine is the teacher that has taught us economics of modern warfare, Iran is the headmaster that’s just hit us with the ruler and told us to listen.

    The economics of warfare matter, and we must learn and act now and act together. The consequences of ignoring these lessons will be grievous.

    In the future, if Russia looks over a NATO, a JEF or an allied border and sees a force that has not adapted to the lessons of Ukraine, it will not see deterrence.

    It will see opportunity. Deterring a country that has taken over a million casualties, more casualties in America took in the entire Second World War, is a challenge, and I’m unsure that we collectively can comprehend what that means.

    Part of that is not viewing resilience just about military capability, something Ukraine has learned, but defining how a country understands its strength.

    Indeed, resilience is much more multifaceted. And we often talk about defence – bombs, bullets, ships, planes – but the reality is the economy, the NHS and education, we often talk about being separate. Well, they are not.

    You can spend billions on defence, but if families are struggling in the economy is under strain, you’re kidding yourself about how strong this country really is.

    And here I speak as a lad from Aberdeen who joined up pretty much straight out of school with a mum who fought hard to bring me and my brothers and sisters up in some pretty bleak times.

    Understanding that is part of what defines me as a politician and my approach to leadership as a Minister in the Ministry of Defense.

    Because strength is not just what sits on the front line. It’s what sits behind it, and indeed underneath it.

    And what this period is exposing us is that parts of that underlying system are more fragile than we’ve been prepared to admit.

    If families are one bill away from trouble, the country is not stable. And in a more volatile energy environment, those pressures can increase quickly.

    If the NHS is not working, people cannot work. If families come under pressure, growth slows. If young people do not have real roots into skills at work, we weaken over time.

    Ukraine shows us the other side of that equation, a country under immense pressure, where the cost of living has surged, where infrastructure has been damaged, and yet where resilience holds.

    We should not assume we would respond in the same way, unless we build that resilience now.

    So when we talk about readiness, we need to think more broadly. Yes, it’s about capable Armed Forces, and of course, supporting Ukraine with 4.5 billion in military assistance over the last year. On NATO’s eastern flank, in the high north and, of course, across the Middle East.

    But readiness today and resilience today is about how quickly we can also adapt, how quickly you can learn, and whether you can scale when it matters.

    And I keep coming back to Ukraine, because there are so many lessons, drones account for the largest proportion of battlefield effects.

    The first time since the First World War, artillery has been overtaken as the major contributor to casualties, where relatively cheap systems can destroy high value exquisite targets, where innovation cycles are measured in weeks, not months, definitely not years.

    This is not niche capability. This is the future of warfare. This is why we’re investing 4 billion in uncrewed systems, why we’re building an integrated targeting network, and why we’re working directly with Ukraine.

    Because readiness is not just what you buy, it’s how fast you learn. The battle space now includes infrastructure, energy networks, data communication, supply chains and the digital layer that sits across it.

    And what we’re seeing now is that disruption is one part of the system does not stay contained. It moves, it compounds and it takes time to work through.

    And in some cases, the second order effects of disruption are more far more consequential than the initial shock. Damage to production, processing and transport infrastructure does not resolve quickly, even when the immediate crisis passes, the effect continues to be felt.

    Too often we assume systems will snap back nice and quickly, back to where they were. Well they rarely do, which means resilience is not just about absorbing the first shock, it’s about sustaining through what follows next.

    That has implications for how we think about energy security, about domestic capability, and about how much risk we’re prepared to carry on critical parts of the system.

    Industry and capital and the state cannot do this alone. We need private capital at scale to build capability and capacity to drive innovation and to accelerate delivery.

    Because in the end, wars are not won on paper. They’re won by what you can produce and indeed how quickly you can produce it.

    Now there’s one thing worse than working with allies, and that’s working without them, and our alliances remain decisive.

    Russia remains the primary threat to European security, further underlined by the Defence Secretary on Thursday who exposed just their latest hostile naval activity.

    And we have to be clear, the war in Ukraine, the tactics used by Iran are separate. They are connected through shared technology, through shared and aligned interests, and through pressure they place on our economics and energy systems.

    Our response is clear. It’s NATO first, but not NATO only. We lead with allies across Europe, across the JEF and beyond, because readiness is a collective.

    And for those of you here from the United States, let me say this, the UK and US relationship is not measured in commentary.

    It is measured in what we do and what we have done, in the depth of our integration, in the intelligence and operations we have shared, and indeed in our history, in the capabilities we developed together, and in the access and support we provide from the North Atlantic to the systems that underpin the very foundations of modern warfare.

    Friends can disagree. We’ve been here before: Vietnam, the Falklands. In reality is our cooperation is continuous. It’s deeply embedded across our economy, our industry, our culture and our militaries, and it will take more than a year or two to pull that apart. The answer is, united, we are stronger. That’s the reality.

    And finally, but perhaps the most important point: people.

    You can have the best equipment in the world, but if people do not feel valued, you will not get the best out of them. That’s why pay matters. Housing matters.

    Families matter because readiness is about sustaining a force, not just generating one. And we’re seeing the results: recruitment up, outflow down.

    Because if you want a ready force, you have to build a country that supports it. So let me finish, perhaps where I started.

    Our people are ready. They are capable. They are delivering.

    But readiness is not a fixed state. It is something you build, and you have to rebuild it continuously over time. It runs through everything we do in our Armed Forces, yes, but just as much in our economy, our infrastructure and indeed, the resilience of our society.

    You can spend billions in defence, but if the country underneath is not strong, it will not hold.

    Our job in this government is to build both and a country that is secure and a country that is strong enough to sustain the security. That is what readiness and resilience really mean.

    And if we get this wrong, if we fail, we increase the chances of war. Let’s be absolutely clear, we increase the chances of conflict by not being ready, and we will, if we don’t get it right, find ourselves on the wrong side of history. Thank you.

  • John Healey – 2026 Comments on the Appointment of the Armed Forces Commissioner

    John Healey – 2026 Comments on the Appointment of the Armed Forces Commissioner

    The comments made by John Healey, the Secretary of State for Defence, on 5 April 2026.

    Our Armed Forces are at the heart of our nation’s security. With demands on defence rising, from the conflict in the Middle East to growing Russian aggression, we are asking more of our military, and it is right that we continue to step up our support for them and their families.

    I am proud that we legislated in our first year of government to create this new Commissioner role, with powers to challenge Ministers and military leaders and to report directly to Parliament.

    Polly brings deep experience of service life and exceptional leadership as this country’s first ever Armed Forces Commissioner, she will be the independent champion and direct point of contact that our Armed Forces and their families deserve. Our message to the Armed Forces community is clear: this government is on your side.

  • Keir Starmer – 2026 Speech at the Munich Security Conference

    Keir Starmer – 2026 Speech at the Munich Security Conference

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on 14 February 2026.

    For many years, for most people in the United Kingdom, war has been remote. Something that concerns us deeply, but which happens far off.

    But now we feel the solidity of peace, the very ground of peace now softening under our feet. It is the job of leaders to be ahead of these seismic shifts. Yet that is against the grain of history.

    Time and again, leaders have looked the other way, only re-arming when disaster is upon them. This time, it must be different. Because all of the warning signs are there.

    Russia has proved its appetite for aggression, bringing terrible suffering to the Ukrainian people. 

    Its hyper-threats extend across our continent, not just threatening our security, but tearing at our social order. 

    Collaborating with populists to undermine our values. Using disinformation to sow division. Using cyber-attacks and sabotage to disrupt our lives and deepening the cost-of-living crisis.

    It is true that Russia has made a huge strategic blunder in Ukraine, and the Russian casualties number well over a million. But even as the war goes on, Russia is re-arming, reconstituting their armed forces, an industrial base. 

    NATO has warned that Russia could be ready to use military force against the Alliance by the end of this decade. In the event of a peace deal in Ukraine, which we are all working hard to achieve, Russia’s re-armament would only accelerate.

    The wider danger to Europe would not end there. It would increase. So we must answer this threat in full.

    At the outset, it is important to be prepared. We do not seek conflict. Our objective is lasting peace, a return to strategic stability, and the rule of law.

    And in the face of these threats, there is only one viable option. 

    Now, to break the convention of a house of speeches, we are not at a crossroads. The road ahead is straight and it is clear.

    We must build our hard power, because that is the currency of the age. We must be able to deter aggression. And yes, if necessary, we must be ready to fight.

    To do whatever it takes to protect our people, our values, and our way of life. And as Europe, we must stand on our own two feet. And that means being bold.

    It means putting away petty politics and short-term concerns. It means acting together to build a stronger Europe and a more European NATO, underpinned by deeper links between the UK and the EU, across defence, industry, tech, politics, and the wider economy. Because these are the foundations on which our security and prosperity will rest.

    This is how we will build a better future for our continent. True to the vibrant, free, diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together. But this isn’t against the tenor of our times.

    Rather, it’s what makes us strong, as we’re prepared to defend it with everything that we have.

    And we are not the Britain of the Brexit years anymore.

    Because we know that in a dangerous world, we would not take control by turning in.  We would surrender. 

    And I won’t let that happen. That’s why I devote time as Prime Minister to Britain’s leadership on the world stage.

    And that’s why I’m here today. Because I am clear, there is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history, and is today’s reality as well.

    So together we must rise to this moment. We must spend more, deliver more, and coordinate more.

    And crucially, we must do this with the United States.

    The US remains an indispensable power. Its contribution to European security over 80 years is unparalleled. And so is our gratitude.

    At the same time, we recognise that things are changing. The US National Security Strategy  spells out that Europe must take primary responsibility for its own defence. That is the new law.

    Now, there have been a series of thoughtful interventions about what this means, including the argument that we’re at a moment of rupture. 

    Now, I would agree that the world has changed fundamentally, and that we must find new ways to uphold our values and the rule of law. But in responding to that, we must not disregard everything that has sustained us for the last 80 years.

    That could be a moment of destruction. And instead, I believe, we must make this a moment of creation. Instead of a moment of rupture, we must make it one of radical renewal.

    So, rather than pretending that we can simply replace all US capabilities, we should focus on diversifying and decreasing some dependencies. We should deliver generational investment that moves us from over-dependence to interdependence. I’m talking about a vision of European security and greater European autonomy.

    It does not herald US withdrawal, but answers the call for more burden-sharing in Europe and remake the ties that have served us so well. Because we know the value of our own power. The nature of our power is at the core of human decision.

    It achieved something that leaders have been trying to do for centuries. From Westphalia to the Congress of Vienna to Versailles. After centuries of conflict, the founders of NATO finally united our continents in peace and security.

    Our militaries, that once faced each other on the battlefield, now stand side-by-side, pledged to each other’s defence. It is a shield over our heads every single day. And whilst some on the extremes of our politics chip away at this alliance, we defend it.

    I am proud that my party fought for NATO’s creation. While our then Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin called it a spiritual union of the West. And we’ve shown our fidelity to that idea, asserting each other’s sovereignty, as we did on Greenland.

    And crucially, coming to each other’s aid under Article 5. We fought together in Afghanistan, at terrible cost to many in my country and across many allied countries. And so I say to all NATO members, our commitment to Article 5 is as profound now as ever. And be in no doubt, if called on, the UK would come to your aid today.

    Instead, we must move forward together to create a more European NATO. As I see it, Europe is a sleeping giant. Our economies dwarf Russia more than ten times over.

    We have huge defence capabilities, yet too often this adds up to less than the sum of its parts. Fragmented industrial planning and procurement have led to gaps in some areas, and massive duplication in others. 

    Europe has over 20 types of frigate, and 10 types of fighter jet. We have over 10 types of main battle tank, whilst the US has one. It’s wildly inefficient, and it harms our collective security. The US security umbrella has allowed these bad habits to develop. But now we must break them. 

    And we have shown that we can coordinate in great effect, as was just set out. Supporting Ukraine in a way that Putin never really imagined. Creating the Coalition of the Willing, which now covers almost all of Europe, as well as Canada and our friends in the Asia-Pacific. And going further in our support, with the UK announcing over £500 million this week for more air defence for the Ukrainian people. To meet the wider threat, it is clear that we are going to have to spend more faster. 

    And we have shown our collective intent in this regard as well. With the historic agreement to increase spending to 5% on security and defence. And we are prepared to explore innovative solutions. So we are stepping up work with like-minded allies on options for a collective approach to defence financing, to help accelerate this vital investment.

    And as we increase spending, we must use it to its full potential. We must come together to integrate our capabilities on spending and procurement and build a joint European defence industry. I welcome the steps that we have taken so far, which could allow us to participate in the £90 billion Euro loan to Ukraine.

    I hope we can work together like this going forward. Because, look, the logic of defence is solidarity and collective effort, not market access. 

    In a crisis, our citizens expect us to be ready. So we need to deliver a step change in collaboration. 

    And I am proud of the work we are already doing together. Delivering cutting-edge drones with Ukraine. Developing next-generation long-range missiles with Germany, Italy and France. Working with our JEF allies to protect our northern flank.

    Doubling our deployment of British commandos in the Arctic. Taking control of NATO’s Atlantic and Northern Command in Norfolk, Virginia. And transforming our Royal Navy by striking the biggest warship deal in British history with Norway.

    We are building a fleet of warships to hunt Russian submarines and protect undersea infrastructure. We want to replicate this level of collaboration with other allies across the High North and the Baltics. 

    And I can announce today that the UK will deploy our Carrier Strike Group to the North Atlantic and the High North this year led by HMS Prince of Wales, operating alongside the US, Canada and other NATO allies in a powerful show of our commitment to Euro-Atlantic security.

    That is also why we are enhancing our nuclear cooperation with France. For decades the UK has been the only nuclear power in Europe to commit its deterrent to protect all NATO members. But now any adversary must know that in a crisis they could be confronted by our combined strength.

    It shows beyond doubt how vital it is that we work together. So, we must also look at what more we can do with the EU. 

    We must go beyond the historic steps that we took at last year’s UK-EU summit to build the formidable productive power and innovative strength that we need. British companies already account for over a quarter of the continent’s defence industrial base. 

    They are a job-creating, community-building machine employing around 239,000 people across the UK, including in Wales, where this month we’re launching the first of five regional defence-grade deals.

    We want to bring our leadership in defence, tech and AI together with Europe to multiply our strengths and build a shared industrial base across our continent which could turbocharge our defence production. 

    That requires leadership. To drive greater coherence and coordination across Europe. That is what we’re doing with Germany and France in the E3, working closely with EU partners, particularly Italy and Poland as well as with Norway, Canada and Turkey. 

    So my message today is the United Kingdom is ready. We see the imperative. We see the urgency. We want to work together to lead a generational shift in defence industrial cooperation. 

    Now this includes looking again at closer economic alignment.

    We are already aligned with the single market in some areas to drive down the prices of food and energy. We are trusted partners. And as the Chancellor of the Exchequer said this week, deeper economic integration is in all of our interests.

    So we must look at where we can move closer to the single market in other sectors as well where that would work for both sides. 

    The prize here is greater security. Stronger growth for the United Kingdom and the EU, which will fuel increased defence spending and the chance to place the UK at the centre of a wave of European industrial renewal.

    I understand the politics very well. It will mean trade-offs. But the status quo is not fit for purpose.

    And to me there is no question where the national interest lies. I will always fight for what’s best for my country. 

    I started today talking about avoiding mistakes of the past like delaying action or fragmenting our efforts. 

    But there is something else. In the 1930s, leaders were too slow to level with the public about the fundamental shift in mindset that was required. 

    So we must work harder today to build consent for the decisions we must take to keep us safe. 

    Because if we don’t, the peddlers of easy answers are ready on the extremes of left and right and they will offer their solutions instead. 

    It’s striking that the different ends of the spectrum share so much. Soft on Russia. Weak on NATO. If not outright opposed. And determined to sacrifice the relationship we need on the altar of their ideology.

    The future they offer is one of division and then capitulation. 

    The lamps would go out across Europe once again. But we will not let that happen.

    If we believe in our values, in democracy, liberty and the rule of law. This is the moment to stand up and to fight for them. That is why we must work together.

    And show that by taking responsibility for our own security, we will help our people look forward. Not with fear, but with determination. And with hope.

    Thank you very much.

  • Kemi Badenoch – 2026 Comments on the Chagos Islands

    Kemi Badenoch – 2026 Comments on the Chagos Islands

    The comments made by Kemi Badenoch, the Leader of the Opposition, on 5 January 2026.

    Last night the Conservatives defeated the Government four times over its Chagos surrender. Surrendering a vital military base weakens our security and costs £35bn.

    Britain must project strength. Only the Conservatives will stand up to hostile actors and for our national interest.

  • James MacCleary – 2026 Speech on the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    James MacCleary – 2026 Speech on the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    The speech made by James MacCleary, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes and Liberal Democrat defence spokesperson, in the House of Commons on 5 January 2026.

    The Liberal Democrats are clear that the Conservatives’ Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 failed victims, survivors and veterans alike by removing legal avenues to justice and eroding public trust. Elements of the Government’s new Bill are welcome, particularly the desire to move towards reconciliation and information recovery, but those aims cannot come at the expense of justice and fairness, or the rights of those who served. Our concern is not to shield wrongdoing; it is to ensure fairness for those who acted within the law as it stood at the time. Veterans must not be left exposed to uncertainty or retrospective judgment, and without clear legal protection.

    Recruitment and retention is already an acknowledged challenge for our armed forces. Given the flaws in the Bill, an impact in this area could only further the case against it. What steps is the Minister taking to protect personnel who served during the troubles who followed the laws of the day? Given the extreme concern across the armed forces community about the impact that this legislation could have, will he consider halting the Bill, and replacing it with one that puts veterans at its heart?

    Al Carns

    I have been really clear: I have been working with veterans across the whole UK, with Northern Ireland and with the commissioners to ensure that the protections that we put in place are written into legislation and are well thought-through, so that the process does not become the punishment. People have said in Northern Ireland that the prospects of prosecution are vanishingly small. We must also ensure that other groups, such as families who lost loved ones in the troubles, get truth, reconciliation and justice, but in doing so, we must absolutely protect our veterans. We will put six protections in place; we will get five of them straight into the Bill, and written into law. We are working through the sixth one, a protocol to ensure no cold calling. It will ensure that anybody who is required to give evidence remotely, rather than by going to Northern Ireland, is engaged with by either the MOD or a regimental association. The main aim of involving our veterans was for them to help me articulate how we can stop this process from being wielded as a punishment against those who served our country so valiantly and honourably in Northern Ireland.

  • James Cartlidge – 2026 Speech on the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    James Cartlidge – 2026 Speech on the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    The speech made by James Cartlidge, the Shadow Defence Secretary, in the House of Commons on 5 January 2026.

    Our legacy Act ensured that those who served bravely in Northern Ireland could sleep soundly in their beds at night, knowing that they would not be hauled before the courts for protecting all of us from terrorism decades ago. But when our Act was challenged in the courts, instead of appealing, Labour immediately caved and is now scrapping those protections. This will reopen cases, such as Loughgall, from 1987, when IRA members were shot while mounting a bomb attack on a police station, having fired first on the Army.

    Loughgall involved 24 SAS soldiers, so it is no wonder that on 30 December, seven senior former SAS officers wrote an extraordinary letter stating:

    “Commanders now hesitate, fearing years of litigation. Troops feel abandoned…This self-sabotage needs no foreign hand…In this Troubles Bill, the Government is complicit in this war on our Armed Forces.”

    The Minister knows the operational importance of special forces as much as anyone. Does he recognise the huge hit to morale if cases like Loughgall are restarted because of the troubles Bill?

    Of course, the Government will say that we need the troubles Bill to pursue unsolved IRA crimes, but as the Prime Minister’s own appointed Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner David Johnstone warned last week, soldiers may be dragged before the courts, but IRA terrorists walk free because the weapons they used were decommissioned without forensic testing. Was the commissioner not right to say that veterans are treated “worse than terrorists”? Furthermore, last October the Government said that the troubles Bill would contain protections specifically for veterans. Will the Minister confirm that all the protections in the Bill also apply to terrorists?

    In November, eight retired four-star generals and an air chief marshal described the troubles Bill as a

    “direct threat to national security”.

    The letter from seven former SAS officers said that they

    “are not asking for immunity; they simply want fair procedures and decisive political leadership”.

    With the threats that we face and the need to maximise recruitment and retention, can the Minister show decisive political leadership of his own and scrap the troubles Bill?

    Al Carns

    As the shadow Defence Secretary has raised a question about recruitment and retention, it is important that we look at the record of his own Government. Military morale fell to record lows under his Government, with just four in 10 personnel in the UK armed forces satisfied with service life; satisfaction fell from 60% to 40% in 2024. Is that surprising when there were real-terms pay cuts in nine out of the 14 years that the Conservatives were in power and over 13,000 housing complaints in a single year? I will not be lectured by the hon. Gentleman on this issue.

    I would suggest that to mention that I have an insight into the operational imperative of our forces, as the tip of the spear, is a slight underestimation. I would argue that there are several people in this House who would understand that, including one who is stood here and another on the Opposition Benches. We have been left with a mess and our Northern Ireland veterans were in a legal wild west because of what the Conservatives did with the last legacy Act. No party in Northern Ireland agreed with that Act or supported it, so we had to sort that out—this Government will not allow that situation to continue.

    Let me be very clear: we are listening. We have spoken to the Royal British Legion and other associations. I speak to military cohorts on a weekly, if not daily, basis and I speak to the Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner almost every day. We are working collaboratively and collectively to ensure that the Bill is fit for purpose, that it protects the individuals, that the process does not become the punishment for those individuals, and that we do not allow any terrorist organisation to rewrite history through the courts.

  • Archie Hamilton – 1987 Statement on Devonport Dockyard

    Archie Hamilton – 1987 Statement on Devonport Dockyard

    The statement made by Archie Hamilton, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Procurement, in the House of Commons on 21 January 1987.

    With permission, Mr. Speaker, I should like to make a statement on the Devonport dockyard.

    My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced yesterday, in following up an answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for South Ribble (Mr. Atkins), that the Government are now satisfied that there exists the basis for an advantageous contract to be placed for the future operation of Devonport dockyard with Devonport Management Limited, which is a company formed by Brown and Root (UK) Limited, the Weir Group plc and Barclays de Zoete Wedd Ltd. I am sorry that the Official Report has not yet printed my right hon. Friend’s answer. However, I did write yesterday to those Members most concerned.

    All three companies in the consortium are British, but Brown and Root is a United Kingdom subsidiary of the United States Halliburton company. As the hon. Member for Clackmannan (Mr. O’Neill) will recall from our discussions of the Dockyard Services Bill, the upper limit which we set for foreign shareholding in the companies bidding for the contracts was 30 per cent. In determining whether a particular shareholding should be considered foreign, account is taken of the parent companies. On that basis, Brown and Root’s share in Devonport Management Ltd. has been set at 30 per cent.

    The House will recall that, in our paper to the trade unions of 4 December, we announced our preferred contractor for Rosyth. My right hon. Friend is at this moment chairing a meeting with general secretaries of eight unions to hear their views on that paper, before he takes a final decision.

    In forwarding the paper on Devonport to the unions yesterday, my right hon. Friend proposed a meeting with them on 13 February to discuss that paper. No contract has yet been placed, and my right hon. Friend has said that he will do so only when the unions have had an opportunity to give him their views.

  • Al Carns – 2025 Statement on the Defence Estate Security Review

    Al Carns – 2025 Statement on the Defence Estate Security Review

    The statement made by Al Carns, the Minister for the Armed Forces, in the House of Commons on 27 November 2025.

    Further to the Minister for the Armed Forces’ statement of 8 September (HCWS913), I am providing a further update on the measures we continue to take to enhance and improve security across the defence estate.

    As we set out previously, after many years of under-investment and hollowing out under the previous Administration, we have identified the physical security of our sites as an area in need of greater focus. The Department is using in-year funding to deliver physical security enhancements, focusing on high priority sites across the defence estate. We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of security to safeguard our national defence capabilities.

    Since we last updated the House, we have maintained our posture of enhanced vigilance and continue to strengthen our security culture. Our updated guidance and reinforcing messaging applies to all those working on our estate, including our contractors. We have made it easier for defence personnel and industry partners to report suspected security incidents.

    In respect of our airbases, the Royal Air Force has made significant progress in strengthening security through advanced technical enhancements, now operational at multiple main operating bases. These enhancements provide a robust layer of protection at our most critical sites. A key innovation is the use of cutting-edge technology through the immediate threat mitigation solution—a self-contained CCTV system designed to detect, track and deter unauthorised access.

    This technical innovation strengthens physical security measures. At RAF Brize Norton, for instance, the upgraded automated track-and-detect system monitors specific areas and feeds into a central control room which is monitored 24/7, enabling faster decision making and improving the Military Provost Guard Service’s ability to respond swiftly and effectively to incidents. In addition, engagement with local landowners and Thames Valley police is strengthening suspicious activity reporting.

    Together, these steps ensure technology and our workforce operate in tandem as part of a layered security approach, with lessons learned being rolled out across the defence estate.

    We will also be piloting restricted airspace above 40 strategic sites across the defence estate, a precursor to wider implementation in 2026, reinforcing existing national security act legislation. This will aid the enforcement of the National Security Act prohibited place legislation and assist with identifying malicious and unlawful activity. We are significantly investing in remote piloted aerial systems, a drone capability that provides persistent surveillance and patrolling to help deter threats and identify them when they arise. This equipment has been procured and personnel are beginning training shortly.

    We have taken decisive steps to improve recruitment across MOD Police, MOD Guard Service, Military Provost Guard Service, and Security Services Group. Recent financial incentive campaigns for the Military Provost Guard Service have been a success and we will consider similar campaigns where appropriate. Other steps include more targeted approaches to advertising and improved candidate engagement.

    Looking further ahead, improvements through the implementation of the strategic defence review will address the chronic under-investment in the security of the defence estate this Government inherited and improve the assurance of security and resilience risk management that this Government inherited. The £20 million for digital transformation of our security, which the Minister for the Armed Forces announced in her statement to the House on 8 September, is being invested in three flagship systems to modernise defence security. These include MOD adoption of the critical national infrastructure knowledge base, a new enterprise incident case management system, and a real-time physical security assurance platform.

    Ensuring the safety and security of the defence estate continues to be a key priority. We are focused on improving physical security, taking advantage of technological advancements and reinforcing our workforce to ensure that we deliver. And all those who seek to threaten the security of our bases should be in no doubt that we will use all the levers at our disposal to take swift action wherever and whenever that occurs. The Department will not hesitate to pursue prosecution where criminality is suspected.

  • John Healey – 2025 Speech at the Pacific Future Forum

    John Healey – 2025 Speech at the Pacific Future Forum

    The speech made by John Healey, the Secretary of State for Defence, in Tokyo, Japan on 28 August 2025.

    Ohayo-gozaimasu, good morning, everyone.

    Good morning and welcome aboard HMS Prince of Wales and welcome to the Pacific Future Forum.

    When our flagship here, every one of 65,000 tons of military capability is being put to the service of strengthening our shared security through diplomacy and through deterrence. During an eight-month deployment involving 4,000 of our service personnel, coordinating 12 nations, covering 26,000 nautical miles and visiting 14 countries.

    On behalf of Captain Will Blackett and his crew, we’re delighted to host you here for the Pacific Future Forum, a forum which is increasingly influential, setting out, as you do, a mission, and I quote, dedicated to strengthening the defence, security, technology and trading relationships between like-minded democracies.

    I’m really grateful on your behalf to everyone who has helped put together this two-day forum.

    I’m grateful to them and I’m proud that we’re able to host you here in Tokyo. For the first time on a foreign carrier alongside in Tokyo Bay, and that honour reflects the deepening defence partnership between Japan and the UK.

    Before I turn to the future, I want to just reflect on the past, as we have this month following the commemorations around the world to mark the anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

    Because 80 years on, we honour the memory of some 60,000 souls lost.

    We reflect on the untold suffering of many more.

    And especially, we join in thanks that our two nations have rediscovered friendship.

    The importance of that was reminded to me yesterday when Minister Nakatani and I laid wreaths at the Chidorifaguchi Cemetery.

    It was also very powerful two weeks ago when I attended the UK National Service of Commemoration at the Arboretum.

    I was sat alongside one of the veterans who spoke during that service alongside his great-granddaughter.

    He spoke in remembrance of his fallen by saying this:

    I speak not as a hero, but as someone who witnessed the price of freedom. We must look to the future”, he said.

    We must ensure that the next generation remember our sacrifices so that they can strive for a more peaceful future.

    And in many ways, that is the challenge at the heart of the Pacific Forum’s purpose — that is at the heart of your discussions over these next two days.

    To better protect the generations of tomorrow, we strengthen the alliances of today.

    As Prime Minister Ishiba said at the weekend, aboard this very ship, he said the levels of partnership now between Japan and the UK are unprecedented.

    And when he and I met yesterday, we reflected together on the fact that our two nations are now in a golden age of defence cooperation.

    From future fighter jets to joint exercises, from naval cooperation to cyber resilience.

    Japan is the UK’s closest security ally in Asia, and I know Japan sees Britain as its closest security partner in Europe.

    And just as we set out in June, when we published the Strategic Defence Review, this relationship is vital to regional, it’s vital to global, security.

    Because the security of the Indo-Pacific is simply indivisible from the security of the Euro-Atlantic.

    And this carrier strike route deployment is the operational demonstration of this truth.

    A deployment of firsts.

    For the first time in recent weeks, Japanese destroyers have provided security to Royal Navy ships and RAF aircraft during exercises.

    For the first time in recent days, a British F-35 fighter has landed on the flight deck of a Japanese ship, JS Kaga.

    For the first time in the coming weeks, Japanese F-15s will deploy to Europe, based in the UK.

    But our partnership goes beyond the seas and the skies.

    Our armed forces continue to train together, and the UK is proud to be the first European force to exercise with Japan on Japanese soil.

    And in cyber, our two nations have collaborated in one of the largest international cyber defence exercises outside the US.

    That’s a relationship that we will deepen still further in the months ahead.

    So in every domain, we’re putting in the hard work now so that if ever we are called on to work together in a time of crisis, we know we can. And so do potential adversaries.

    Just as our armed forces operate together, our industries will build together.

    Times change.

    The control of the skies will always belong to those who can adapt first.

    And make no mistake, our adversaries are rapidly designing the capabilities specifically to counter our strengths.

    So the Global Combat Air Programme is how we’ll maintain our advantage.

    A flagship example of a capability partnership — strengthening alliances, strengthening security — both in the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific.

    And I hope you see this as a powerful signal of the UK government’s determination to bring partners together from different global regions.

    And I hope you also see it as it is, a programme also of firsts.

    The first time that the UK has worked with a nation outside of Europe on such a programme.

    The first time that Japan has partnered with other nations on such a programme.

    And GCAP grew out of our common assessment of threats, our respect for each other’s technology, and our shared imperative and timeline for introducing the next generation of capability.

    Our shared aim is that GCAP becomes an international standard for how nations pool their resources for greater security and for greater prosperity.

    And you will hear over the next two days more about this, but the government and industry teams from the UK, from Japan and from Italy are making real progress now in realising those ambitions.

    We set up the inter-government organisation led in Reading by a Japanese CEO, underpinned by treaties passed in all three of our parliaments.

    Edgewing, our joint industrial venture, has now stood up — bringing the aerospace leaders from all three nations together in a single joint company venture.

    Our task as three ministers now by the end of the year is to ensure that we can agree the first GCAP international contract — another important step in driving the delivery of the design and development phase and allowing them to get towards manufacturing.

    Whilst building a supersonic stealth fighter is by nature a long-term project, economic benefits are already being felt in all three nations.

    So in the UK, we’ve invested a further billion pounds this year in our future combat programme. It already employs four and a half thousand people, and we expect GCAP to create thousands of new jobs in all three nations.

    So whilst it’s first and foremost about ensuring our three nations can police the skies over the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic — to ensure they keep our people safe for a generation to come — one of the greatest strengths that many of you in this room know better than anyone else, one of the greatest strengths of the defence sector, is often the instruments that we design to provide a combat or battlefield advantage become the foundation for wider progress in society.

    And so GCAP will also provide huge potential opportunities for our finest minds to work at the forefront of autonomy, space, quantum technology — potential and possibilities not just for security, but for our societies as well.

    And I want you to see our total UK commitment to developing GCAP, our continued effort to operate ever closer with Japan’s Self-Defence Force, and I want you to see the deployment of our carrier strike group to the Indo-Pacific as demonstrating what we declared as a government, we set out in the strategic view, of a policy that is NATO first, but not NATO only.

    Because as we see the threats, more serious, less predictable, than at any time since the Cold War — Ukraine demonstrates what Jens Stoltenberg argued years ago:

    What happens in the Indo-Pacific, he said, matters in the Euro-Atlantic.

    And what happens in the Euro-Atlantic matters in the Indo-Pacific.

    And right now in Ukraine, our adversaries are proving just that — autocratic states working more closely together.

    So Russia, in the hope of breaking the will of the sovereign Ukrainian people, has called on North Korea for troops, Iran for drones, and China for technology, equipment, and weapons components.

    Here, 8,000 kilometres from Kyiv, the Japanese people understand this, and have stood as true friends from the start to Ukraine.

    We’re grateful, and we pay tribute to that support.

    They’ve been providing assistance alongside NATO.

    They’ve been supporting the coalition of the willing.

    So when we say “NATO first, but not NATO only,” this is more than a slogan.

    It reflects the growing threats that we face today — threats that don’t respect regions or national borders: cyber attacks, disinformation, attacks on democracy, hostile action in space.

    And for the UK, some of our closest, most like-minded partners in countering these threats are to be found in the Indo-Pacific — just as some of our most exciting technological partnerships are forged here too.

    And it is only through working together that we will strengthen regional security, that we will reinforce a lasting stability— the stability on which our economic growth, our social resilience, and the future of our countries depend.

    For us, our allies are our strategic strength.

    And so in a more dangerous world, in a new era of threats, we’re deepening our defence cooperation with good partners like Japan — bilaterally, industrially, and through NATO.

    And just as the threats we face are real, to make deterrence real, we must work more closely together.

    That imperative is right at the heart of the purpose of the Pacific Future Forum.

    So in summary, that is why the presence of the Prince of Wales here in Tokyo is not just symbolic — it’s strategic.

    It’s building on the UK’s partnerships and commitments across the region.

    Our naval presence provided by HMS Tamar and HMS Spey — helping to uphold freedom of navigation, enforcing sanctions, providing humanitarian assistance.

    Our military presence in Singapore, Brunei.

    Our joint exercises with Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore — as part of the historic Five Power Defence Arrangements.

    And our contribution to ASEANs expert working groups in the dialogue partnership.

    Each deployment, each exercise, each relationship, each industrial or technological collaboration strengthens stability, reinforces security.

    And as our two nations prove — when we double down, when we invest in those partnerships — those partnerships are the source of our ultimate strength.

    So thank you once again to Minister Nakatani, who will speak to the forum later today.

    Thank you to everyone in Japan who has made this visit possible.

    Thank you to everyone who contributes to our defence partnership.

    Our relationship with Japan is one that we hold dear.

    And in the words of His Majesty, the Emperor:

    We are friends like no other.

    And I look forward to strengthening that partnership, that friendship, in the years ahead.
    Thank you.