Oral Answers to Questions

John Cooper Excerpts

Monday 8th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Luke Pollard]

My hon. Friend is a real champion of his constituents who work at RAF Wyton, and all those who could work there through the expanded opportunities, which I have spoken to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) about. I am glad that there is cross-party support for the investment that this Government could make. There is a real opportunity to use defence as an engine for growth, creating more opportunities for our young people in particular. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Sam Carling) and the hon. Member for Huntingdon to discuss how we can further develop the opportunity at hand, in a spirit of cross-party consensus.

[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

Charles Stewart Parnell came to this place and used British institutions against the British state. Now, in Scotland, we have First Minister John Swinney, who is a kind of pound-shop Parnell. Although we are hearing much about defence infrastructure across the UK, the SNP Government have a presumption against supporting defence industries in Scotland. What are we going to do about it? Defence sits here, not in Holyrood.

[Luke Pollard]

This Government’s approach is to create jobs and opportunity through the increasing defence budget in every part of the United Kingdom, including Scotland. The Norway frigate deal highlights how a UK Government selling our wares and our expertise on the global stage can provide additional jobs, with 4,000 jobs from that deal across the UK, including 2,000 in Scotland. While the SNP Government have been dithering on defence, this Labour Government have been delivering.