Oral Answers to Questions

David Jones Excerpts

Monday 18th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Brazier]

Northern Ireland has always been an excellent recruiting ground for both regulars and reservists, and I am conscious also of the fact that, beyond the statistics, as the hon. Gentleman mentions, a higher proportion of people from Northern Ireland have been mobilised than from any other part of the UK.

[Mr David Jones (Clwyd West) (Con)]

10. What recent representations he has received against replacing the independent nuclear deterrent.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Michael Fallon)]

My Department regularly receives representations covering a wide range of views on defence matters, including the replacement of the independent nuclear deterrent.

[Mr Jones]

North Korea recently announced that it had tested a hydrogen bomb and only yesterday boasted that it had the capacity to obliterate the United States. To what extent does my right hon. Friend think North Korea would be deterred in its nuclear ambition by the knowledge that somewhere below the surface of the East China sea an unarmed submarine was lurking?

[Michael Fallon]

First, let me strongly condemn the nuclear tests conducted by North Korea, which seriously threaten regional and international security. I can assure my right hon. Friend that this Government will not gamble with the long-term security of our citizens. We remain committed to maintaining an independent nuclear deterrent. The only thing a nuclear submarine without nuclear weapons is likely to deter is anybody who cares about our security from ever voting Labour again.