Defence Transformation

Debate between David Crausby and Liam Fox

Monday 18th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

I thought my hon. Friend might raise that issue and can tell her that there will be no change in the current usage.

[Mr David Crausby (Bolton North East) (Lab)]

How can we be certain that the right hon. Gentleman’s Government, propped up by the Liberals, will deliver and maintain the necessary training and support that our Territorials and reserves require, or is this just another way to cut the Army?

[Dr Fox]

The big difference between the Opposition and the Government is that we not only say that we believe in the Territorials; we are funding the Territorials, whereas they cut the Territorials. Moreover, we believe that having a stronger reserve is one of the ways of increasing the links between the armed forces and the communities of this country. That community linkage should not be underestimated, and it is not easy to put a monetary value on it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Crausby and Liam Fox

Monday 4th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

Yes, I can give the right hon. Gentleman that assurance. We have ensured that nothing in our military planning, nothing that we are doing in Libya and nothing that is happening financially will in any way undermine our operations in Afghanistan.

[Mr David Crausby (Bolton North East) (Lab)]

2. What role he expects his Department to play in establishing post-conflict security in Libya.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Dr Liam Fox)]

We are in discussions with Whitehall colleagues, international organisations and allies regarding a post-conflict solution in Libya. It is too early to speculate on what might be required and who might be involved.

[Mr Crausby]

Can the House be assured that the plan for peace in Libya will be as robust as the plan for war? Is the Secretary of State absolutely certain that we will not underestimate the size of the task in the way that pretty well everybody did in the case of both Iraq and Afghanistan?

[Dr Fox]

The hon. Gentleman asks a key question. How the transition occurs is of key importance. If there is some political settlement and an orderly handover to a new authority in Libya, the chances of maintaining order are much greater. We are working towards that with the contact group and others, and it makes sense for NATO and the United Nations to plan for all eventualities when we see the back of Colonel Gaddafi, as we all hope will soon happen.

Afghanistan

Debate between David Crausby and Liam Fox

Monday 14th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

History teaches us that in any insurgency or conflict, we inevitably move from a military phase, taking on the violence of insurgency, into a phase where there is both military contact and diplomatic activity, and hopefully from there into a phase of diplomatic resolution on the political stage. I think that we are at a point where, as I said earlier, we will increasingly be looking not simply at the military position or the security situation on the ground, but at the political level. What has come across in the House this afternoon appears to be an increasing view on both sides that the political arena will be increasingly important. That is in no way to diminish the importance of the security environment within which those political talks will take place, but without the success of the political element the security gains will not provide a stable and secure Afghanistan.

[Mr David Crausby (Bolton North East) (Lab)]

Following today’s announced cuts in RAF training, which will deny us the use of pilots who are virtually qualified, what guarantees can the Secretary of State give on the impact on heavy lift supplies to Afghanistan, which the Afghans will never deliver themselves, and the delivery of helicopter support to both our troops and theirs on the ground? Surely he realises that the Government must not impose an increasing burden on a diminishing number of our pilots.

[Dr Fox]

There were in fact no cuts announced today, other than in some of the newspapers, which were catching up on some of the announcements in the SDSR. No changes that were made in the SDSR will have any impact on operations in Afghanistan.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Crausby and Liam Fox

Monday 31st January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

None of us wanted to see reductions in the defence budget for their own sake. What the House and the country need to understand is that the size of our national deficit is a national security problem. Next year, this country will be paying £46 billion in debt interest against a defence budget of only £37 billion. Even if the current Government eliminate the deficit within five years, that debt interest will rise. That is money being paid for nothing because the last Government were unable to contain their urge to spend, spend, spend.

[Mr David Crausby (Bolton North East) (Lab)]

T4. Can the House be assured that the pace of submarine production at the Barrow shipyard is sufficient to retain the skills that will deliver an independent, British-made successor to the Vanguard submarine?

[Dr Fox]

Yes. In the SDSR, we are committed to the seventh Astute submarine, partly to ensure that the skills base was there as we went through to the successor programme. We regard the ability to build and maintain our nuclear deterrent successor programme as part of our sovereign capability.

Defence Treaties (France)

Debate between David Crausby and Liam Fox

Tuesday 2nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

The Government have been very clear, as we were throughout today’s statements by the Prime Minister and President Sarkozy, that this is an agreement by two sovereign nations agreeing to co-operate where it is in their mutual interest to do so, but totally retaining the capability to act separately where their respective national interests require it. Many of us feel much more comfortable with that model than the supranational idea of defence mediated by the bureaucrats of the European Union.

[Mr David Crausby (Bolton North East) (Lab)]

How can the House be assured that amidst co-operation on nuclear matters between us and both the French and Americans at the same time, our independent nuclear deterrent will remain independent for a very long time?

[Dr Fox]

For a long time there has been a French-American bilateral relationship and an Anglo-American bilateral relationship on the nuclear deterrent. As the former Defence Secretary, the right hon. Member for Coventry North East (Mr Ainsworth), will know, there has been discussion for some time about whether the relationship should be trilateral, given the cost of the programmes, but the decision has been taken that for the moment the double bilateral relationship will continue. We are strengthening the third, Anglo-French, part of that, because we believe it is in our interests to do so for reasons of both cost-effectiveness and our obligations under the non-proliferation treaty.