"To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the United Kingdom’s ongoing capability to design and manufacture helicopters...." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to air the Question for Short Debate in my name on the Order Paper, and to the Minister for finding time to answer this debate.
"I am grateful for the noble Lord’s helpful contribution, but I want to make it clear that Airbus maintains, changes and alters helicopters; it does not build them. That is a significant difference...." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"I am sorry to intervene so early. The noble Lord said that “Yeovil and other parts of the country” are committed to the design and manufacture of helicopters. What other parts of the country apart from Yeovil can design and manufacture helicopters?..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"I am sorry to take more of the Minister’s time. I notice he has three minutes left. He has been brilliant at identifying that this is not only a community asset for Yeovil but a national asset that is replaceable nowhere else, and has described very well the importance of …..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"My Lords, will the Minister give me an assurance that the summit will discuss the Brussels policy which, whether through inadvertence or ignorance, is now in danger of delivering on the dreams of Milošević, Tudjman and Karadžić? Let me explain. Now that Croatia is a member of the European Union, …..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to sustain the United Kingdom’s standalone capacity to design and manufacture helicopters as part of their modernising defence programme...." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"My Lords, it is a very great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, who has been an inspiration to me. I thank her for her very kind words, but she underestimates the huge advantage I had from an excellent international strategy, some outstanding international partners and, above all—I pay tribute …..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank the Minister for those encouraging words. It is of course true that Serbia’s accession is five or six years off at best, but he should not underestimate, as I am sure he does not, that people, particularly in places like Republika Srpska, will be responding to …..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"My Lords, the catalogue provided by the noble Baroness of Russian attempts to destabilise the western Balkans is both serious and dangerous. Instability is deepening in the western Balkans again, and there are many who should know better who are now calling again for a “Greater Serbia” and a “Greater …..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech