Oral Answers to Questions

Jack Lopresti Excerpts

Wednesday 20th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I wish the hon. Member for Filton and Bradley Stoke (Jack Lopresti) and his hon. Friend the Member for Morley and Outwood (Andrea Jenkyns) all the best for their wedding on Friday of this week, which I look forward to attending.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

Q9. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I look forward to seeing you there. I am sure the Prime Minister agrees that defence of the realm and the protection of our people is the first duty of the Government. Would she further agree that any future Government who failed to support our armed forces, who wanted to abolish our nuclear deterrent and who sympathised with terrorists, would endanger our security as well as placing hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk up and down the country, as well as 12,000 in my constituency?

[The Prime Minister]

Mr Speaker, I join you in congratulating my hon. Friends on their forthcoming wedding, which unfortunately, because of my travels, I will not be able to attend. I wish them all the very best.

My hon. Friend raises a very important issue, and I absolutely agree with him that defence is the first duty of the Government. That is why we are committed to our NATO pledge to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence every year. We have a £36 billion defence budget, which will rise to almost £40 billion by 2020-21, and we are spending £178 billion on equipment over the next 10 years. He is absolutely right: a party like the one opposite, which wants to get rid of our nuclear deterrent, cut our armed forces and pull out of NATO, would not strengthen our defences; it would weaken them.