Oral Answers to Questions

John Baron Excerpts

Monday 13th March 2023 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

1. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK’s (a) number of military personnel and (b) range of military capabilities.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ben Wallace)]

The armed forces’ capabilities allow the Ministry of Defence to meet a range of domestic and global commitments. Defence is reorganising and re-equipping to face future threats. However, as I have previously stated, as the threats change, we need to change with them. Any specific changes related to personnel numbers or military equipment capabilities will be determined once the update to the Defence Command Paper has concluded, which I expect to happen in June.

[Mr Speaker]

I call John Baron—good to see you back.

[Mr Baron]

While I am conscious that my right hon. Friend has accepted the conclusions of last year’s 1922 defence committee report in drafting his Command Paper, I am also conscious of the fact that there is real concern, as we are about to hear, about the integrated review and, indeed, one-off increases. What does he think it will take for this House to sustainably increase defence spending, given geopolitical events?

[Mr Wallace]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. First and foremost, we have been sustainably increasing our defence since 2020. The Prime Minister recognises the dangerous world we are in, and in the autumn statement both the Chancellor and the Prime Minister recognised the importance of increasing defence spending. The Prime Minister has obviously talked over the weekend about defence spending. There will be a Budget later in the week, and then I think there will be some further discussions to have.