Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ben Wallace and Taiwo Owatemi

Monday 7th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Wallace]

I would be troubled if fewer were being helped by it. That is not our intention and, indeed, one of the early things I did when I took this office was to extend the Help to Buy scheme, because it is a thoroughly worthwhile scheme. I will be delighted to look into the matter and present to the right hon. Gentleman why the numbers have dropped and what we can do to increase them.

[Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab) [V]]

The 2015 defence review highlighted all the things that can go wrong when a Government fudge funding figures. This mistake opened up a £30 billion black hole in the defence budget. It also led to a monumental failure to secure the recruitment of troops that the UK needs, leaving us 12,000 short of strength. Will the Secretary of State tell the House what lessons the Government have learnt from the past review, and how they plan to implement adequate funding to the MOD to ensure that they do not underfund financial resources again?

[Mr Wallace]

If the hon. Member has been an avid attender of Defence questions, she will have heard me say on a number of occasions that the lessons of the past for both Governments—including Labour Governments; I refer her to the National Audit Office report of 2010—are that we should not over-promise, be over-ambitious or underfund, and that we should cut our cloth accordingly. I have read not only the 2010 report but all the successive NAO reports and SDSRs going back to 1998, to learn what mistakes should and could have been avoided. That is why we have had this review and this record funding, and it is why the Prime Minister made the exception for a multi-year spending decision not only in CDEL but in REDL. This gives us the space to put things right that have been wrong and to ensure that we make long-term investments that match our ambition. I am sure the whole House agrees with that. I am always happy to take suggestions from hon. Members from all around the House about what we could do even better.