Future Capability of the Armed Forces

Lord Magan of Castletown Excerpts

Thursday 16th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Magan of Castletown (Con)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lord Harlech for initiating this debate. I declare my interest: my grandfather was a soldier, my father was a soldier, my brother was a soldier and my son was a soldier. My son Edward, a captain in the Irish Guards, saw active service in the second Gulf War in Basra, Iraq, and subsequently served with Special Forces in Afghanistan.

The noble Lord, Lord Coaker, widely respected on all sides of this House, has spoken movingly about members of his own family who served the Crown in conflict. He will recognise, as all serving families necessarily have to, the traumas of uncertainty, apprehension and fear, hoping the telephone is not going to ring, which are part and parcel of such family involvement and commitment. One does not forget those days of such very considerable anxiety. Yet, once again, we face the prospect that our own forces will find themselves increasingly on a front line where technology is changing the character of warfare at the fastest rate in history. The UK is woefully and inadequately prepared for the challenges now likely to be faced. Starmer’s Administration have comprehensively failed to meet their responsibilities for the very necessary further rapid enhancement of the defence of the realm.

It is all the more notable that the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, has presided with increasing exasperation over the extensive debates held in this House on the June 2025 strategic defence review and, subsequently, the long-delayed defence investment plan, which certainly has not, as was promised, delivered a vision of warfaring readiness and transformation over the next 10 years and beyond. In fact, the delayed publication of the defence investment plan in June this year was so poorly received that it led to the immediate resignation of John Healey as Secretary of State for Defence and of the Defence Minister Al Carns, who said that the defence investment plan was

“not built for the threat we face. It is neither transformative … nor sufficiently funded”.

That is a damning indictment of a wholly inadequate, much-delayed priority policy requirement.

Further, Al Carns asked, what will Putin do? When Russia finds itself cornered, it escalates. I believe that Russia will escalate horizontally, sending drones over a NATO country, daring the alliance to respond. We are on the brink of serious conflict, in which the lives of our service men and women are going to be lost, maybe at scale. Responsibility for such potentially disastrous procrastination, prevarication and indecision lies fairly and squarely with outgoing Prime Minister Starmer. The dangers now have to be faced rigorously. There is no time to be lost by incoming Prime Minister Burnham.

First, the total funding package of £15 billion, one-third of which is unfunded—heinous fiscal legerdemain—is woefully inadequate. The Chief of the Defence Staff has made it clear that £28 billion in extra funding is the minimum requirement, committed and delivered on time. Secondly, under the current plan, we will be spending just under 2.7% of GDP on defence in 2030; 3% was the target. John Healey, the outgoing Defence Secretary, has said that we need a target date for 3% and a

“clear, credible funding plan to meet our NATO commitment of 3.5% … by 2035”.

Thirdly, it must be remembered that, at the height of the Cold War, we were committing 5% of GDP to the defence budget. We can do it, but this Labour Administration’s priorities need to be straightened out fast. Fourthly, it is essential that the £10 billion munitions plan is reinstated. It is necessary to rebuild our munitions stockpile, now much depleted, particularly after the war in Ukraine. So where are you, Mr Burnham? Do not keep hiding. Come out and face the music. Show now that you truly have the mettle needed for equipping our forces—

[Captain of the King’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard and Deputy Chief Whip (Baroness Wheeler) (Lab)]

I am sorry. Will the noble Lord wind up, please?

Armed Forces Bill

Lord Magan of Castletown Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 6th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Magan of Castletown (Con)]

My Lords, it is somewhat daunting to follow my noble friend Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton. He certainly knows what he is talking about.

We have to talk about money. It is the critical lifeblood of our Armed Forces and their effectiveness. This Labour Administration are totally failing to recognise fully their financial responsibilities for the defence of the realm. We are on a collision course with a Russia that is on a war footing. The threats are not imaginary; they are real. Yet the current Labour Administration are intent on sleepwalking into a critical situation for want of mobilising the immediately necessary and substantial funding to keep our country safe.

Yes, the UK is extremely vulnerable and exposed at this time, not least because of the very substantial underinvestment in our nuclear submarine capability. The strategic defence review made abundantly clear the scale of the increased investment in defence capabilities that is needed. The defence investment plan has quantified the requirement at £28 billion over the next four years. The reality is that the current Labour Administration have prevaricated and procrastinated until very late, coming up with a—very rushed—financial commitment of just £15 billion over four years, but substantially sourced by as yet unidentified cost savings. This is just far too little and far too late.

Defence expenditure will rise in 2030 to just 2.7% of GDP, far short of the 3% committed by the Prime Minister to our NATO allies. No wonder that John Healey, until recently Secretary of State for Defence, resigned—because, in his words, the proposed level of spending

“falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time”.

So Prime Minister Starmer goes to the NATO summit this week as a derided lame duck—an ignominious ending to his disastrous term in office. His weakness will hugely upset our European NATO partners but will enrage President Trump, whose ire will no doubt manifest itself in other ways of significant damage to the UK and our trading relationship with the USA. Starmer has surely smashed the special relationship; it will take a very long time for trust and confidence to rebuild.

King’s Speech

Lord Magan of Castletown Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Magan of Castletown (Con)]

My Lords, as the Chief of the General Staff has recently made starkly clear, Great Britain and NATO are very much in Putin’s crosshairs. We are on an inescapable collision course with a Russia that is on a determined war footing. Many aspects of this conflict have already been under way for quite some time. Deliberate, enhanced Russian escalation in a wider sphere is evidenced by its increasingly subversive and deliberately antagonistic activities in eastern Europe, yet the Labour Administration have been consistently weak in their responses to these ever-increasing dangers and shown a lacklustre regard to substantially beefing up defence of the realm.

Our European partners are not indulging in such dangerous and inescapable complacency. Some are already taking the gloves off in a way that should be a real spur to our own commitment and endeavours but could also, if not balanced, raise very significant concerns.

We need to talk about Germany again. Germany is launching an enormous rearmament programme and its officially declared, stated aim is now to build, in its words,

“the strongest conventional army in Europe”.

Chancellor Merz has secured a constitutional amendment to exempt defence spending from the stringent legal limits on government debt. Merz’s recent proclamation is that the scale of defence spending now has to be “whatever it takes”. It is now clear that, by the end of this decade, Germany’s conventional defence spend will significantly exceed that of the combined total of the UK and of France. Rheinmetall, Germany’s defence giant, is already responding at full bore to Chancellor Merz’s exhortations, with typical German efficiency, huge productivity and a focus on maximum quality. For understandable historical reasons, this is now ringing alarm bells in Paris and in Warsaw.

There are clearly much more disturbing forces also at work. But for us in Great Britain, that should be the spur to emulating Germany’s determined commitment to protect Europe’s freedoms and culture. Why are this present Labour Administration so timid and so indecisive? Why do this Labour Government not listen and respond with immediacy to the wise, experienced and much-respected counsel of their own distinguished noble friends in this House, such as the noble Lord, Lord Reid of Cardowan, and the noble Lord, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen?

“Action this day” surely has to be seized as the galvanising mantra. For a long time, we have been the USA’s major and most respected partner in NATO. We should welcome Germany’s even more heavyweight presence alongside us. Restoring President Trump’s confidence in NATO is of permanent importance. A NATO regalvanised under leadership determinedly funded by Great Britain—alongside a fully funded and committed Germany—will be very close to President Trump’s heart. He clearly values hugely his own British, Scottish and German familial ties; we must determinedly embrace Germany in this way. The depiction of Field Marshal Blücher in the Royal Gallery reminds us of an absolutely pivotal partnership of yesteryear. His Majesty the King’s hugely successful state visit to Germany demonstrated how warm this two-way relationship can be. We must not let Germany drift eastwards.

Armed Forces: Pay

Lord Magan of Castletown Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, the remit for the 2013-14 pay round and the Armed Forces Pay Review Body’s terms of reference are contained within its 2013-14 report, copies of which are available in the Library of the House. The report also includes a letter to the body from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in which he provides details of the Government’s approach to public sector pay for the 2013-14 pay round.

[Lord Magan of Castletown]

My Lords, will my noble friend explain to us in detail what exactly the X-factor supplement is?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, the X-factor was introduced in 1970 and is paid as an addition to base pay. It is paid to reflect the relative disadvantage between the conditions of service experienced by members of the Armed Forces over a full career and conditions in civilian life that cannot be taken directly into account in assessing pay comparability. Those factors include danger, discipline, turbulence, separation and liability for duty at all times.