Armed Forces: East of Suez

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Lord Taylor of Holbeach

Thursday 9th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Robathan (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach (Con)]

My Lords, we will hear from the noble Lord, Lord West, and then from my noble friend.

[Lord West of Spithead]

My Lords, a carrier battle group is the perfect platform for power projection east of Suez, but whenever one goes east of Suez one might be going in harm’s way. A carrier battle group is not a carrier on its own. When I took a battle group to the Far East for the Hong Kong withdrawal, it was 14 ships, including two nuclear attack submarines, because of those sorts of risks. Does the Minister really believe there is sufficient money in the naval programme to ensure adequate support shipping for a carrier operating in the Far East?