Defence Investment Plan

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Wednesday 1st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I agree with that. In the document, it talks about the need for the transformation of our Armed Forces, and much of that will be around uncrewed capabilities and drones. It is not only about big primes; much of this, including in Ukraine as the example, is delivered by small and medium-sized businesses, which have that particular agility to which the noble Lord refers, and we need to develop that.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, with the honourable exception of the noble Lord, Lord Kerr, much of our debate today, as in the many months leading up to the defence investment plan, has focused on the bottom line and where the money is coming from; we have, unfortunately, had far less debate about how the money is being spent. I note that less than £10 billion over four years is set aside for homeland defence in areas such as cyber security, air and missile defence, and undersea infrastructure protection. By comparison, about £100 billion is being spent on nuclear submarines and jet fighters, AUKUS subs and cruise missiles. As the leading article in the Guardian said today, we are still binding our force structure to an American-led posture. Is that not deeply dangerous in the current geopolitical circumstances of an unstable, uncertain America?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

“No” is the answer to the noble Baroness’s question. Homeland defence runs all the way through the document: how we have better air defence, what we do about improving the use of reserves, and various protections for our critical national infrastructure, which is really important. As I have said before, on our alliance with the United States, the development and maintenance of things such as our nuclear deterrent are really important, not only for our defence and security but for the defence of Europe and beyond, and we should continually reiterate that.