Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Defence

Oral Answers to Questions

Christian Matheson Excerpts
Monday 28th March 2022

(2 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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James Heappey Portrait James Heappey
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It certainly could be—it is a highly effective weapons system—but we are not seeking to be in any way prescriptive with the Ukrainians about how it is employed, as they will understand their plan better than we do. We give them these weapons systems confident that they will bring them to good use, and thus far that has proved correct.

Christian Matheson Portrait Christian Matheson (City of Chester) (Lab)
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Does the Minister share my concern that the agility and mobility hoped for in the Future Soldier programme will be thwarted if those soldiers are stuck in traffic on the M6 near Weeton barracks? Would it not be much better to keep Dale barracks in Chester open and have a wider operational footprint for our future soldiers?

Jeremy Quin Portrait Jeremy Quin
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That is an ingenious construction. We always think about this, but I am afraid we do not have any plans to change that element of the defence estate optimisation portfolio at this point.