Oral Answers to Questions

John Cryer Excerpts

Monday 30th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Harriett Baldwin]

I can provide in writing the exact number of people, as of today, who work there. As this is a bespoke trading entity, the aspiration is that we do not manage the head count in terms of our procurement but manage down the cost of procurement.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

In the light of recent events, how relaxed is the Secretary of State about Trump having his finger on the nuclear button?

[Sir Michael Fallon]

The United States has always been a good partner to this country and has played a leading role in NATO, and is a key part of the nuclear alliance that we and the United States share together. It is worth remembering that NATO is a nuclear alliance. I look forward to working with the new Administration on precisely that.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Cryer Excerpts

Monday 29th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

My hon. Friend has made his views in this great debate very clear. As I said to the House earlier, NATO is the cornerstone of our security and the European Union complements that, with a number of other levers and weapons at its disposal—humanitarian, diplomatic and economic. There is no doubt in my mind that the fracturing of either the alliance or the Union would not aid the collective security of the west.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

Have any embedded British pilots flown any missions at all into Libya?

Counter-ISIL Coalition Strategy

John Cryer Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. A lot of colleagues are still seeking to catch my eye. I want to accommodate them all, but brevity is of the essence. Who will lead us in that important mission? I think that Mr Cryer will do so.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

Let us be clear: the Secretary of State is here today not because he is a big fan of parliamentary accountability, but because he knew that there would be an urgent question and he did not want to look as though he had been dragged kicking and screaming to the House of Commons—he is doing a pretty good imitation of that anyway. Will he answer a question that was asked previously: how long has he known about British involvement in military strikes in Syria?

[Michael Fallon]

I have known about the embedding of UK personnel with our allies since I took up my post, and, as I said, when each deployment on operations takes place, my permission is required and was given.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Cryer Excerpts

Monday 8th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Julian Brazier)]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: defence engagement is of pivotal importance. We are in the process of “upgunning” the role of defence attachés worldwide, with more language training and a proper career structure to make it more attractive. That is part of a wider attempt to raise the importance of defence diplomacy. Soldiers, sailors and airmen can so often reach parts of our allies that others cannot.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

Will the Secretary of State give the total cost of Trident replacement so far? Could he confirm whether this House has approved every element of that expenditure?

Service Personnel (Ukraine)

John Cryer Excerpts

Wednesday 25th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister told the Liaison Committee yesterday, we can now see a pattern of behaviour around the borders of Russia. We have seen it in Georgia and elsewhere. The first thing that we had to do about that was to stiffen up NATO to ensure that we had a rapid reaction force worthy of the name. That was agreed at the NATO summit last September, and we have now agreed our contribution to it. We will be a framework nation in 2017 and we will be seconding staff to the two divisional headquarters, in Poland and Romania. We will also be seconding staff to all six of the forward integration units. We are encouraging other NATO members to make similar commitments in order to reassure the members on NATO’s eastern flank that we are ready to stand by our commitments under article 5.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

Whatever the Secretary of State might say, to the real world this will look like military intervention. At what point is he going to come here and seek the agreement of the House of Commons to this?

[Michael Fallon]

There is a well-established convention that if we were engaged in offensive military operations in a country we would of course come to the House, as we did last September when we obtained the authority of the House to carry out air strikes in Iraq. This, however, is not a military operation. We are providing trainers and advisers to help the armed forces of Ukraine better to defend themselves and to help to reduce the very high number of fatalities and casualties that they are suffering.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Cryer Excerpts

Monday 23rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

I hope that my right hon. Friend, who served with distinction as a Minister in my Department, will recognise that, by investing in two aircraft carriers, committing to a replacement of the Type 23s, investing in armoured vehicles, purchasing fighters and commissioning new offshore patrol vessels, we are improving our defence capability. It is because we sorted out the defence budget that we are able to invest in new equipment in a way that the previous Government could not possibly have done.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

On the basis of a previous answer, can the Secretary of State give an absolute assurance that none of the British military activities in Iraq will be allowed to drift across the border into Syria?

[Michael Fallon]

The hon. Gentleman knows that we have authority under the terms of the motion passed in this House to act in Iraq but not in Syria. That, of course, enables other members of the coalition to help the battle against ISIL in Syria; indeed, it frees up some of their capacity to do so. It is important that ISIL is defeated in both countries. ISIL does not respect the borders to which the hon. Gentleman refers.

Defence

John Cryer Excerpts

Wednesday 14th January 2015 Ministerial Corrections

The following is an extract from Questions to the Secretary of State for Defence on 12 January 2015.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

Last year, the number of Britain’s reservists rose by just 20. Given the millions thrown at the recruitment campaign, how is that a triumph?

[Mr Brazier]

The tri-service numbers of reservists over the past six months were up 400. The fact is that after 15 years of continuous quarter-on-quarter decline, they are now going up again. As I mentioned earlier, in the last quarter announced, recruiting was running at double the rate that it was in the equivalent period last year.

[Official Report, 12 January 2015, Vol. 590, c. 597.]

Letter of correction from Mr Brazier:

An error has been identified in the response I gave to the hon. Member for Leyton and Wanstead (John Cryer) during Questions to the Secretary of State for Defence.

The correct response should have been:

Oral Answers to Questions

John Cryer Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Francois]

We unequivocally condemn the awful atrocities committed by Boko Haram in Nigeria. In June 2014, at the London ministerial meeting, the former Foreign Secretary announced that the UK will significantly increase the training and capacity-building assistance we offer to the Nigerian armed forces. We have since expanded our resident training and advisory team, and deployed increased numbers of short-term training teams to help prepare Nigerian troops for deployment against Boko Haram.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

Last year, the number of Britain’s reservists rose by just 20. Given the millions thrown at the recruitment campaign, how is that a triumph?

[Mr Brazier]

The tri-service numbers of reservists over the past six months were up 400. The fact is that after 15 years of continuous quarter-on-quarter decline, they are now going up again. As I mentioned earlier, in the last quarter announced, recruiting was running at double the rate that it was in the equivalent period last year. [Official Report, 14 January 2015, Vol. 590, c. 7-8MC.]

Reserve Recruitment

John Cryer Excerpts

Monday 17th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Brazier]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. We are confident that we will meet the targets. I say again that in the last three-month period we achieved almost double the equivalent level for last year. We are committed to those targets so his question does not arise.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

After this expensive disaster, does the Minister have a shred of a regret about hacking away 20% of the Army’s strength, particularly given the fact that some regular soldiers served in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at the Olympics and were then told, “There’s your P45. Now sod off.”? What a disgraceful way to treat soldiers.

[Mr Brazier]

This Government have taken huge steps to build the armed forces covenant and to ensure that veterans who left the armed forces on redundancy terms were well looked after. Members of the hon. Gentleman’s own Front-Bench team made it clear that under Labour there would have to be cuts in defence. The previous shadow Secretary of State said:

“The truth is the Labour Party would have to make cuts if we were in power.”

We have had to make difficult decisions because of the economic circumstances we inherited.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Cryer Excerpts

Monday 14th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

How many of the former soldiers sacked by the Secretary of State for Defence in historic acts of vandalism have found permanent employment—not employment on the basis of single-hours contracts or temporary employment, but permanent employment? Will he put the figures in the House of Commons Library?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Anna Soubry)]

We find that, among those who leave our armed forces, an incredibly high proportion—some 86%—find employment within six months. That is because they are eminently employable by virtue of the service that they give to our country.