Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Lord Hammond of Runnymede

Tuesday 28th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

This discussion is still ongoing. I hope we may bring it to a conclusion within, let’s say, the next eight days.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

5. What recent representations he has received on the level of beer duty.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Lord Hammond of Runnymede

Tuesday 9th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

6. What discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on prospects for reform of the EU.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Philip Hammond)]

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and I have already started talking to our counterparts about our agenda for change in Britain’s relationship with the EU. We have set out British concerns with the status quo and the areas where we need to see change.

[Graham Evans]

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said last week that one of the guiding principles of negotiations on the UK’s future within the EU should be “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this clearly shows a real willingness by our EU partners to work with us on reform and find a flexible solution?

[Mr Hammond]

We were very heartened by the German Chancellor’s comments. The great majority, perhaps all, of our EU partners want Britain to remain in the European Union. They understand now, because the Prime Minister has set it out to them, what needs to be done to make that a possibility, and we are confident that they will now work with us to achieve that over the coming months.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Lord Hammond of Runnymede

Monday 12th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

T3. As a graduate of the armed forces parliamentary scheme, I have seen at first hand the excellent contribution that men and women make to our armed forces. What steps is my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State taking to encourage the recruitment of women into our armed forces?

[Mr Hammond]

Women play an important role in our armed forces. Just recently we passed a seminal moment in the history of the Royal Navy, with women officers being assigned to duties in the submarine service for the first time. However, we want to make further progress, and to that end, as has been widely reported, I have asked the Chief of the General Staff to bring forward the next review of the question of women in combat roles in the Army and to report back to me by the end of the year on the opportunities such a move would present and the challenges that would have to be addressed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Lord Hammond of Runnymede

Monday 15th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Philip Hammond)]

My priority remains the success of operations in Afghanistan. Beyond that, my priorities are to deliver the transformation of the MOD, maintain budgets in balance and deliver equipment programmes so that our armed forces can be confident of being properly equipped and trained. We have set out plans to restructure the Army, to re-base it from Germany, to expand the reserves and integrate them with regular forces, and to restructure the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and Defence Equipment and Support within a slimmed-down MOD that is focused on providing support to the armed forces.

[Graham Evans]

Has my right hon. Friend seen the recommendation of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee’s report on the implications of Scottish separation that the Government should provide assurance that plans are in place to maintain the UK’s nuclear deterrent in the event of the Scottish people voting for separation? Does he agree with the recommendation?

[Mr Hammond]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend and disappointed that the sole representative of Scottish separatism in the Chamber today had disappeared before we reached this point in proceedings. I have indeed seen the recommendations of the House of Lords report. As my hon. Friend will know, the Government’s position is clear: Scotland benefits from being part of the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom benefits from having Scotland in it. We are confident that the Scottish people will agree. However, in the event that they voted to leave the United Kingdom, the referendum, rather than being the point at which Scotland would leave the Union, would mark the beginning of a lengthy and extremely complex set of negotiations between the Scottish and UK Governments on the terms of independence. If an independent Scotland wanted to change the arrangements for the UK’s nuclear deterrent, the considerable costs, complexity and time scale involved in delivering alternative arrangements would inevitably be a major feature of the negotiations. It is therefore incorrect to suggest the need for an immediately deliverable contingency plan for the deterrent. However, the House will be aware that the MOD plans for a huge range of contingencies. For reasons of national security, we do not comment publicly on plans relating to the nuclear deterrent.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Lord Hammond of Runnymede

Monday 11th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Philip Hammond)]

My departmental responsibilities are to ensure that our country is properly defended now and in the future through the delivery of the military tasks for which the Ministry of Defence is mandated; that our service personnel have the right equipment and training to allow them to succeed in the military tasks; and that we honour our commitments under the armed forces covenant. In order to discharge those duties, I have worked with the chiefs of staff and my senior officials to ensure that the Department has a properly balanced budget and a force generation strategy and a defence equipment programme that are affordable and sustainable in the medium to long term, details of which I have already announced to the House.

[Graham Evans]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the members of the armed forces who played such a splendid role in the magnificent diamond jubilee celebrations, remembering that many of those men and women fought bravely in Afghanistan until recently?

[Mr Hammond]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The relationship between the monarch and the armed forces is historic and important. Her Majesty the Queen, as head of the armed forces, has maintained and strengthened those links throughout her 60-year reign, and she enjoys the deep loyalty and affection of her armed forces. The diamond jubilee celebrations were a welcome opportunity for the armed forces to demonstrate the affection and esteem that they have for Her Majesty.

McNulty Report and West Coast Rail

Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Lord Hammond of Runnymede

Thursday 19th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

I am not. I think the hon. Gentleman suffers from the disease—which I have noticed is quite widespread—of taking a rose-tinted retrospective view of British Rail. People were quick enough to criticise and complain about British Rail’s performance when it was operating; now, at 15 years’ distance, that era suddenly appears to have been some halcyon period of British excellence. The hon. Gentleman is right that British Rail operated the railway on a shoestring at relatively low cost, but in doing so it built up a tremendous legacy of under-investment and disregard for safety risk, the terrible consequences of which we saw only too clearly in the late 1990s and the early years of this century.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

I welcome this report and the associated cost reductions on the west coast main line. We can learn from this report, so will my right hon. Friend please ensure that the forecast build and running costs for High Speed 2 are not exaggerated?

[Mr Hammond]

Yes. The High Speed 2 business case and the build and running costs put forward in the consultation document incorporate the Treasury’s generous additional percentages for risk and optimism bias—with as much as 60% added to the basic costs in some cases—to address the very concern that my hon. Friend outlines.