Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Brazier Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

This is not a question about whether the people of Scotland should have a choice about the future—[Hon. Members: “Yes, it is.”] The people of Scotland exercised their right to self-determination and voted in 2014 to remain a part of the United Kingdom. The people of the United Kingdom voted last year to leave the European Union. We are respecting both those votes; the right hon. Gentleman is respecting neither of them.

[Sir Julian Brazier (Canterbury) (Con)]

Q6. With her strong commitment to defence, does my right hon. Friend agree that we must stem the outflow from our shrinking forces? I urge her to reconsider the policy that she inherited of encouraging service families to get on to the housing ladder on the one hand, while on the other hand increasingly focusing the Army in areas where there is no affordable housing, and then applying the new landlord tax arrangements to buy for let.

[The Prime Minister]

I recognise the passion with which my hon. Friend always raises issues about the armed forces. He raises an important point, but I can assure him that we are fully committed to our goal of an 82,000-strong Army by 2020. On his specific point about service accommodation, we want to ensure that people have a greater choice in where they live by using private accommodation and meeting their aspirations for home ownership. That is why we set up the £200 million forces Help to Buy scheme and continue to support subsidised housing for service personnel—the pot of money will not be cut. The Ministry of Defence is working with the Treasury on the issues my hon. Friend raises, and I am sure that they will keep him updated.