Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Defence

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom Excerpts
Monday 2nd September 2013

(11 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Hammond of Runnymede Portrait Mr Hammond
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I can tell the right hon. Gentleman that the work on the review was conducted in-house, led by the Cabinet Office and supported by the Ministry of Defence, and that the principal cost involved will have been civil servants’ time. If he submits a written question to me, I will ask the Department to produce the best estimate that it can make of the time involved.

Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom Portrait Mr James Arbuthnot (North East Hampshire) (Con)
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Does my right hon. Friend agree that if we opted for an alternative to Trident, we should probably have to be out of the submarine building business altogether, and that that would pose a real risk to the national security of the country?

Lord Hammond of Runnymede Portrait Mr Hammond
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My right hon. Friend has made an extremely good point. It seems often to be forgotten by those who advocate an alternative that we must make a choice about whether to sustain a submarine building industry in the United Kingdom. I, for one, believe that it is essential to the UK’s strategic interest for us to maintain a submarine-building capability, and that further points to the use of a submarine-based continuous-at-sea deterrent.