Middle East: Defence

Debate between John Healey and Calum Miller

Monday 9th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[John Healey]

I can indeed. My hon. Friend is right to underline the statement and the commitment the Chancellor made this afternoon to this House. He is also right to point out that while the US may be our closest ally, as the Prime Minister has said, it is for the Prime Minister and the British Government to decide what is in Britain’s best national interests.

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. I listened very carefully to what he had to say about the authorisation for the US to use UK bases and his confirmation that there are UK personnel embedded with US operations in the region. With that in mind, it seems all the more important that this Government are entirely clear on the limits of the consent they have given to operating with the US. On Monday last week, US Defence Secretary Hegseth mocked the idea of rules of engagement and said that he wanted to seek “maximum lethality”. On Saturday, President Trump then said that new areas and groups of people would be under serious consideration for “complete destruction”. What confidence does the Secretary of State have that the US is following the same rules of engagement that he believes are legal for the UK?

[John Healey]

I have the fullest confidence. These arrangements for access, basing and overflight are well established. The relations between the US and the UK are very close. We have operated them together before, and we are doing so now.

Afghanistan

Debate between John Healey and Calum Miller

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[John Healey]

I will indeed reaffirm our continuing commitment to honouring the obligations and duty that we owe to those who served or worked alongside our forces. Through the ARAP scheme, we will complete the processing of any outstanding applications, and any who prove eligible will get full relocation and resettlement support. I am glad to be able to restore a degree of that parliamentary scrutiny and transparency that our system in Britain depends on.

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. He said: “When this nation makes a promise, we should keep it.” I agree. In the chaos of withdrawal, my constituent who left under ARAP was made a promise by British officials that his pregnant wife could follow him. Two years later, we have still not kept that promise. My constituent’s wife and child continue to move around in Afghanistan to evade the Taliban, and my constituent is so desperate that he is talking about returning to Afghanistan—despite the risk to him—to be reunited with them. The Minister for the Armed Forces, who knows the case, has told me that the Ministry of Defence will not consider it, and that this is now a matter for the Home Office. In the light of that, will the Secretary of State repeat his commitment that our nation should keep its promise to my constituent? Will he undertake to discuss with the Home Secretary how her Department will ensure that such cases are afforded proper treatment in the light of our commitment to the Afghan people?

[John Healey]

I will take a look at the case and, if required, I will speak to my right hon. Friend and colleague, the Home Secretary.

Strategic Defence Review

Debate between John Healey and Calum Miller

Monday 2nd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[John Healey]

We are totally committed to shipbuilding in Scotland. I pay tribute to the workers in his constituency in Rosyth for their pride, professionalism and sense of purpose, and the contribution that they make to our national security.

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

The service personnel and their families at Bicester garrison, in my constituency, are victims of the scandal of military family housing to which the Secretary of State referred. The investments highlighted today are therefore welcome, but to reassure my constituents, will the Secretary of State commit that military housing will reach the decent homes standard? Will he give the date by which the defence housing strategy will be published? And will he confirm that he has accepted the recommendation in the SDR that all proceeds from housing developments on Ministry of Defence land will be reinvested in military housing?

[John Healey]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise this long-run scandal. I am sure he will recognise that we cannot turn this round overnight. I hope he will also recognise the steps that we have already taken this year—the 36,000 military homes brought back into public control and the plans we are putting in place for the future. That allows us in this Parliament finally to put an end to the scandal that we have seen of military families being forced to live in such substandard accommodation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Healey and Calum Miller

Monday 24th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[John Healey]

I just ask the hon. Gentleman to drop that Brexit rhetoric. We are leading efforts with the French Government and the French military to meet the challenge of the US and the requirements of Ukraine to have a coalition of countries willing to stand with Ukraine in the context of a negotiated peace, to help them secure enduring stability and deterrence, to prevent Russia re-invading that sovereign country.

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

3. What steps he is taking to ensure that veterans receive adequate support after leaving the armed forces.