Lord Altrincham
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Defence Funding
Lord Altrincham Excerpts(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)
As I said, the 3% timing will be declared at the spending review. I do not want to do all the criticising of other parties, actually; I am trying to maintain a collegiate House. But I do remember, a couple of weeks ago, the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Coventry talked about old people, who she said were of “immeasurable worth”. Everyone is of immeasurable worth. Of course we need to talk about big numbers for defence and welfare, but real people depend on welfare and those real people are of immeasurable worth. That should inform our debate.
Lord Altrincham (Con)
How should our adversaries interpret the Treasury’s defence stance?
Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)
That the Government have an absolute commitment to the defence of this nation; that we already have the third-highest absolute expenditure among our allies; that we will honour our NATO commitment of 3.5% by 2035 and set a target for 3% on defence at the spending review; and that in 2025 we committed to the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War. That is not bad.