Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

Damien Moore Excerpts

Wednesday 14th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Damien Moore (Southport) (Con)]

I welcome today’s debate, but I want Members in this Chamber, particularly on the Opposition Benches, to remember that it was the Labour party—MPs sat on the Opposition Benches, including the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition—that wanted to make the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) Prime Minister, so no doubt those Members supported his world view. It was a world view that included abolishing the Army, scrapping Trident, withdrawing from NATO and casting doubt on our world-leading intelligence services.

Ironically, we have heard something different today from the shadow Secretary of State, who is much more positive about the armed forces. I really welcome that, but one of his colleagues on the Front Bench wanted to replace our armed forces with human security services, which would have made our defence policy not a statement of intent, but quite literally just a written statement. I cannot stress enough how important the safety and security of the United Kingdom and our people are. I pay tribute to the hard work of our armed forces, which keep us safe every day.



History has demonstrated that where we do not meet the changing nature of security with equal, robust and pragmatic changes in policy, we leave ourselves vulnerable and open to attack. In the current climate, must we consider not only the threat of newly emerging powers, requiring nuclear weapons, but that of non-state actors, who have shown their intention to cause atrocities on our streets. We must consider the changing nature of these demands. We must adapt to this change. We must ensure that our constituents are kept safe.

I welcome this Government’s commitment to spend £188 billion on defence over the next four years. It shows commitment and that we are protecting our people. We are building new ships for our Navy and new jets for our RAF. The funding will enable the Ministry of Defence to prioritise more than £6.6 billion for research on those new threats. We do not want our armed forces to be technologically disadvantaged. We want to build partnerships that sustain our economic advantage, our strategic advantage and our defence advantage. Right across the United Kingdom, our communities are benefiting from billions of pounds-worth of defence spending. Across this nation, I am proud that our investment in MOD spending is supporting more than 400,000 jobs and providing huge opportunities across British industry for our future.

It is only this party—the Conservative party—that can be trusted to keep our country and our people safe, and I pay tribute to this Government under my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary. They have reaffirmed our commitment. This Government are committed to ensuring that our armed forces have the strength to protect our country.