King’s Speech
Baroness Kingsmill Excerpts(3 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Baroness Kingsmill (Lab)
My Lords, I am pleased to contribute to this debate on a subject that I believe sits at the very heart of everything else that we discuss in this Chamber: the security and safety of the UK and all of us. I declare an interest as a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly—PA—and as a chair of the sub-committee on defence and transatlantic economics.
I welcome the Government’s stated commitment to defence. In a dangerous and volatile world, these words of resolve matter. However, I have to say, with respect, that words alone are not enough, and on this occasion the words were not accompanied by the legislative framework that the scale of the threat requires. There had been real anticipation, widely reported, that the King’s Speech would include a defence readiness Bill. It did not. That absence should trouble every Member of this House who has read the strategic defence review, particularly those who have read and absorbed the extraordinary speech given last week by my noble friend Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, who led the review.
The strategic defence review called for warfighting readiness, new munitions factories, enhanced cyber and missile defence, and a revitalised industrial base. Ministers accepted all 62 of those recommendations, yet the promised 10-year defence investment plan remains undelivered. Accepting recommendations is one thing; funding them, legislating for them, and giving them the permanence and priority they deserve is quite another.
It is in this context that I draw the attention of the House to a report published earlier this month by the Center for European Policy Analysis—CEPA—entitled “Unleashing Defense Innovation”. It is a serious and timely piece of work, and its central argument deserves to be heard in this Chamber. The report makes clear:
“Europe’s surge in defense spending”—
and there is such a surge—
“represents a once-in-a-generation strategic opportunity … but without a modernized investment strategy, new funding risks entrenching outdated force structures rather than delivering real deterrence”.
Spending more on the wrong things is not a solution; it is just a more expensive version of the same thing. The CEPA report is particularly instructive on the question of financing. It argues compellingly that private capital, venture investment, private equity and sovereign wealth funds must be mobilised alongside public expenditure, if we are to transform our defence industrial base at the speed that the threat demands. Procurement cycles that outlast entire technology generations are, as the report rightly observes, both strategically reckless and economically wasteful.
The Government should read these words carefully. Legislation that removes the regulatory and other barriers currently preventing institutional capital flowing into defence would be a significant step forward, and that is precisely the kind of bold structural reform that a defence readiness Bill could provide. Our NATO alliance remains the bedrock of our collective security, and I am glad that the Government have reaffirmed it, but NATO is not a comfort blanket but a commitment—and commitment requires capability. As my noble friend Lord Robertson has himself warned, our reliance on the United States, predicated on the assumption that it will always be there, has led to a diminution in our capability. We cannot outsource our security and then be surprised when the terms change. The alliance is only as strong as its members and Britain must be a strong member, not in aspiration but in armour, munitions and readiness.
I want to say something that bears repeating in this Chamber. We talk a great deal about the conditions necessary for democracy to flourish: free and fair elections; the rule of law; an independent judiciary; and a free press. All these things matter enormously, but none can be sustained without the hard infrastructure of national security. A democracy that cannot defend itself is a democracy that will not long endure. Strong defence is not the enemy of liberal values; it is the guarantor.
The Government have the diagnosis: my noble friend Lord Robertson and his distinguished colleagues gave it to them. The Center for European Policy Analysis has shown the way forward on innovation and finance. What is missing is the courage to act on it with the urgency and legitimate seriousness it demands. I hope that Ministers will hear this message not as a political challenge but as a patriotic one, offered, as I believe it is by all sides of the House today, in the national interest.
80th Anniversary of Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan
Baroness Kingsmill Excerpts(1 year, 1 month ago)
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Baroness Kingsmill (Lab)
My Lords, yesterday we celebrated VE Day with a fly-past, parades and parties. It was a happy time, a reflection of the relief and joy that was felt at the end of a long and terrible war, a war which reshaped the world and touched nearly every family across the UK and beyond. We have heard many wonderful stories today of people’s memories, and of their experiences of their fathers, their grandfathers and others.
For me, as for many noble colleagues, it was also personal. My father came from New Zealand to serve in the Royal Air Force. He flew missions in Liberators at very low altitudes, hunting enemy submarines to protect the convoys that kept Britain supplied during the darkest days of the war. I like to think that possibly he protected a convoy that the father of the noble Baroness, Lady Rafferty, was sailing in—that would be a nice connection. He also met and married my mother, a young woman from the Welsh valleys, who spent much of the war years working in a munitions factory.
In many ways, they were representative of the commitment of the Commonwealth countries and of women to the war effort. Recently, on 25 April, we remembered the sacrifice of the Anzacs. Many Australian and New Zealand servicemen were fighting on behalf of the UK and the rest of Europe at the time. I also point out that my grandfather fought on behalf of the UK at Gallipoli and was injured there, so in the family we had a history of Commonwealth support for the European wars.
Like so many others have mentioned, my parents spoke very little about what happened, but we know and have learned what it cost, and we know what it means. Victory came at an enormous price. Millions died, families were broken and Europe was left in ruins. Yet out of this devastation came a determination to prevent such a war happening again.
We need to remember the role of our allies, particularly the United States. Although initially it was reluctant to enter the war, it became a decisive and committed partner in the fight against tyranny. Out of that co-operation, NATO was born. A shared commitment among democratic nations to stand together in defence of peace and security, NATO has been a cornerstone of European stability ever since. Its member states, united by common values, continue to play an essential role in deterring aggression and upholding international law. I am pleased to be part of the British contribution to NATO.
We are now, however, reminded that such peace cannot be taken for granted. The war in Ukraine is a stark and painful warning. Once again, people are fighting and dying in Europe; once again, a sovereign country is resisting an aggressor. We cannot be complacent. Europe may be on the brink of war again. Maybe it already is at war, maybe in a different form. The cyberattacks that have been taking place across Europe are maybe the modern equivalent of bombs. Our Armed Forces in the UK and across our alliances continue to play a vital role in defending our values and supporting peace and stability. We owe them not only our thanks but our full and active support. We need to increase their numbers.
The past holds powerful lessons, and one of the clearest is this: peace is not the absence of war. It is something that we need to build, protect and uphold day by day, generation by generation. We honour those who fought by living up to the world they hoped to create.