Autumn Budget 2026

Lord Doyle Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Doyle (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my fellow No. 10 alumnus, the noble Lord, Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury. I am grateful to be able to speak in this debate and I pay tribute to those making their maiden speeches today.

I welcome the Budget and the choices this Labour Government have made. At a time of considerable international uncertainty, the Chancellor has balanced two important objectives: providing immediate relief to families and businesses while making the long-term investments on which our prosperity and security depend. The measures to help households with energy bills, to freeze fuel duty and to reduce business rates for thousands on the high street are not performative, as some on the other side have suggested, but will make a real difference to people’s lives. Also welcome are the commitments to build more social and affordable housing, invest in the NHS and create new opportunities for young people through employment and apprenticeships. It is right that the Government have stressed that these ambitions must be underpinned by fiscal discipline. Economic stability is not an alternative to investment in our future; it is the foundation on which that investment depends.

I want to concentrate on the Government’s commitments on defence and, in particular, their continuing support for Ukraine. Put simply, our economic security and national security cannot be separated. The prosperity we seek to build at home depends on our ability to defend our country, uphold alliances and maintain the international order on which our society and prosperity depend. I therefore welcome the commitment to fully fund the defence investment plan, alongside the commitment to increase defence spending towards 3.5% of GDP by 2035.

By the way, for all the faux outrage that we have seen on the Benches opposite, it is entirely logical, given that the commitment has been made, that the detail of these longer-term decisions will be set out in a spending review—a spending review that will confirm that this Government are spending far more on defence than the Tories ever came close to in their 14 years in office.

I am pleased to see the investment announced and jobs promised in the UK’s defence industries through the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank. It is vital that we strengthen our manufacturing capacity, improve procurement and ensure that the UK has the sovereign capabilities it needs.

Nowhere is the importance of these commitments clearer than in Ukraine. For more than four years, the Ukrainian people have demonstrated extraordinary courage in defending their country against Russia’s illegal invasion. They are fighting for their own freedom and independence, but they are also defending principles fundamental to the security of every democracy: that borders cannot be changed by force, that sovereign nations determine their own future and that aggression must not be rewarded.

Supporting Ukraine, therefore, is not simply an act of solidarity; it is an investment in our own economic and national security. That is why I welcome the Government’s announcement of more than £10 billion of additional financial support for Ukraine, alongside their continuing commitment to £3 billion a year in military assistance. And the additional £500 million for air defence this winter is especially important as Russia continues to attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and civilian populations. These are substantial commitments. However, we know there is still a 2027 funding gap for Ukraine. Given this, I want to push the Government on whether there is more we can do regarding frozen Russian sovereign assets.

The principle is straightforward. Russia must pay for the damage it has caused in this illegal war, but we must do more than simply freeze Russian assets and wait for reparations at the end of the war. Ukraine needs support now. Some €200 billion of Russian assets remain immobilised in the European Union, much of it in Belgium. The Belgian Government has legitimate concerns about the legal and financial risks of releasing those funds, but those risks should not fall on Belgium alone. So I ask my noble friend the Minister: will the British Government work with our European and G7 partners to establish the guarantees and risk-sharing arrangements necessary to unlock those assets now, as an advance against the reparations Russia will ultimately owe? As I say, Ukraine needs the money to defend itself now and rebuild today, not simply at some uncertain point in the future.

In conclusion, I welcome this Budget, the breathing space it provides for today, the hope for the future and in particular its commitments on defence and Ukraine, because there can be no lasting prosperity without security and no lasting security without the willingness to defend the values and principles on which our democratic societies depend.