EU Security Action for Europe Programme

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I can confirm that. Clearly, it is in all our interests that, alongside the collective agreements we seek, we also seek individual agreements, as the noble Baroness pointed out. She will already know of our agreement on frigate building with Norway, the recent announcement with the Netherlands on amphibious ships, the typhoon arrangement with Türkiye, the individual arrangements with Germany and France, and there are many others. The bilateral relationships that we have with other countries, and the bilateral agreements to rebuild our industries, are crucial to building the defence industrial base we need.

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate our new Prime Minister: he was a good MP for Leigh and Mayor of Manchester. In the interest of our country, I wish him every success. Last week, I met with military chiefs at NATO headquarters in Brussels, and they told me of their profound concerns about the outgoing Prime Minister’s defence investment plan, which led to the resignation of his Defence Secretary and Minister for Veterans. Will the new Prime Minister reopen the defence investment plan, in order to fund our defence properly? Will he also have the good sense to keep the Minister in his place?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

Well, I agree with the beginning and end of the noble Lord’s question. As he knows, we have had debate and discussion about the defence investment plan, and we will continue to do so. We have heard the Prime Minister talk about the importance of defence and the noble Lord will know that, as it stands, we have a defence investment programme and a commitment to raise the £4.7 billion in the 2026 Budget. He will also know that defence and security will be the number one priority of the 2027 spending review. It is then that further discussions will no doubt take place about how we move forward with the defence investment plan we currently have.