Jeremy Hunt
Main Page: Jeremy Hunt (Conservative - Godalming and Ash)Department Debates - View all Jeremy Hunt's debates with the Cabinet Office
(1 day, 13 hours ago)
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The Prime Minister
I wish my hon. Friend and her constituents a very happy St David’s day, and join her in welcoming the significant new investment in her constituency that will ensure good, well-paid skilled jobs and the transition to energy security and lower bills. I know her constituency will play a vital role in that.
Jeremy Hunt (Godalming and Ash) (Con)
Does the Prime Minister agree that our biggest single foreign policy priority is the preservation of NATO with America at its heart? If so, following his welcome announcement yesterday, is the next step to talk to our European allies and for all of us to agree to spend 3% of GDP on defence within a specified timescale, so we can look the President in the eye and say that Europe is finally pulling its weight on defence?
The Prime Minister
I agree with the right hon. Gentleman entirely on the priority in terms of NATO. Putin thought he could weaken NATO. He has only made it stronger and larger. NATO’s strength comes from the US, European partners and others working together, and that is absolutely the focus of my work at the moment. It is right, as he says, that European countries, including the United Kingdom, need to do more on capability, co-ordination and defence spend. That must be seen not as a project separate to NATO, but as part of an essential project that ensures NATO is there for decades and decades to come preserving the peace, just as it has been for 75 years.