Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alan Duncan and Gerald Howarth

Tuesday 21st February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sir Gerald Howarth (Aldershot) (Con)]

9. What plans he has for co-operating with EU countries on defence policy after the UK has left the EU.

[The Minister for Europe and the Americas (Sir Alan Duncan)]

We are strongly committed to European scrutiny and will remain so after we leave the EU. NATO remains the cornerstone of our defence, and we will continue to play our full part in supporting European security, particularly in eastern Europe.

[Sir Gerald Howarth]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s commitment to NATO, but does he not find it as depressing as I do that while other EU countries are completely obsessed with creating an EU defence identity, they are failing miserably to meet their NATO requirement of spending a minimum of 2% of their GDP on defence? Is not the foot-dragging by Germany, the richest country in Europe, and its refusal to honour that commitment until 2024 particularly perverse?

[Sir Alan Duncan]

We continue to make it clear that nothing should cut across NATO’s role as the cornerstone of European defence. Other parties’ contributions being fairly distributed to NATO would make sure that NATO can remain the force it needs to be.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alan Duncan and Gerald Howarth

Wednesday 30th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan]

The amount of ODA in Government spending is accounted for with 90% from the Department for International Development and about 10% from other Departments.

[Sir Gerald Howarth (Aldershot) (Con)]

As my right hon. Friend knows, I am a huge fan of his, but I wonder whether he agrees that there is something arbitrary about 0.7%. The United Kingdom has taken a lead in the world and shown the way, and we can also add in what our armed forces have contributed. Given the desperate and catastrophic state of the public finances that we inherited from the previous Government, surely the time has come to freeze overseas aid spending and devote some of that money to our hard-pressed armed forces.

[Mr Duncan]

The 0.7% target is a long-standing campaign, and my hon. Friend is right to say that to some extent it is arbitrary. Even if countries reach that target, it could be argued that it would still not suffice for the needs of the world. As a doughty defender of the armed forces, I assure my hon. Friend that we are committed to spending 30% of our budget on countries that are fragile or at risk of conflict, which often means working with his friends in the armed forces. Even though 0.7% may be arbitrary, the results we get for the money we spend are not, and they are evaluated rigorously.