Defence and Security

Lord Sharma Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

My noble friend makes a particular point. The certainty of the funding helps industry to meet the challenge. Previously, announcements have been made but there has not been the funding behind them, and that makes it more difficult for industry to make the plans they need to. He is right, and there are ongoing discussions about how industry and government will work together.

[Lord Sharma (Con)]

I of course welcome the increase in defence spending and the resolute support for Ukraine. However, I am disappointed that all this increase seems to have come from the overseas aid budget, which will, unfortunately, erode the UK’s soft power. The Minister has made it very clear that those cuts to overseas aid will not come in until 2027. Can she give the House a commitment that the previous Government’s desire to spend £11.6 billion on international climate finance between 2021 and 2026 will be delivered in full?

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

I do not have the exact details on that policy; I will write to the noble Lord about it. There will be a lot of ongoing work with the various government departments, particularly the FCDO, looking at how the finance is being spent and how we manage having to make those cuts. I will come back to the noble Lord on the precise point he makes.