United Kingdom Military Installations

Graeme Downie Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Luke Pollard]

The right hon. Member is right that the threats we face are increasing, and they are increasingly complex as well. This is not just about human espionage by people, but about how espionage involving criminal gangs and cyber-attacks can be paired together. We in the Ministry of Defence work very closely with the intelligence agencies—both ours and those of our allies—and we continue to invest further in that. She will have heard me talk about the £470 million for base security, and there are additional budgets, both in the defence budget and the wider Home Office security budget, for our work with the intelligence services.

[Graeme Downie (Dunfermline and Dollar) (Lab)]

Through written answers, I was able to find out that the police costs for the 2024 drone incursions at RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell were over £600,000, but there was no information on the total cost. We know that hostile states such as Russia and Iran will try to probe such bases, because it is cheap for them but potentially costly for us. Will the Minister make sure that he does everything he can to capture the full cost of these incursions for our bases and the wider economy?

[Luke Pollard]

My hon. Friend’s work on what he describes as the “Putin tax” is a really important contribution, because there is a deliberate attempt by adversaries to load costs and difficulties on to the United Kingdom and our allies by posing such dilemmas. The House will be familiar with some of those asymmetrical, grey zone activities, and we have disclosed that there has been Russian and adversary activity. Such activity results in a cost to the UK taxpayer and to the defence budget, and his work is helping to tell the public about the amazing work our security services and armed forces do in countering that risk, but also about the tactics of the Russian Government.