Ukraine, Middle East, North Africa and Security
Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Mark Pritchard(9 years, 10 months ago)
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Mark Pritchard
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way. On the specifics of air strikes, the House will rise this week and not return until 13 October. If there were to be another atrocity in Iraq, is he comfortable with authorising, with the Prime Minister, air strikes if the House has not had a vote?
Mr Hammond
If my hon. Friend will allow me, I will come specifically to the question of air strikes and their authorisation later in my speech.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Mark Pritchard(11 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Hammond
We have no plans at the moment to take part in air policing operations from Reykjavik, but we recognise the importance of the high north, not least because such a large proportion of Britain’s primary energy resources now come from the Norwegian sector of the North sea. The MOD is currently undertaking a review of the strategic significance of the polar regions, both north and south, and that will be part of the evidence that informs the 2015 strategic defence and security review.
Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)
One of the lessons from Libya showed that the European members of NATO lack sufficient ISTAR— intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance—and air-to-air fuel capability. Will the Secretary of State update the House on what progress European allies are making in bringing forward that capability?
Mr Hammond
Both areas mentioned by my hon. Friend are identified gaps in European NATO capability. Once again, I made it clear at the NATO ministerial meeting that the UK will have surplus capacity in air-to-air refuelling once our new Voyager fleet is fully delivered, and that we are more than willing to share that capacity with other NATO allies in the spirit of pooling and sharing.
Future Reserves 2020
Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Mark Pritchard(11 years, 8 months ago)
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Mr Hammond
I am not quite sure what that question was all about. Under the Reserve Forces Act 1996, reservists’ employment rights are protected when they are mobilised—employers are required to keep their workplace open for them. As I said in my statement, however, our Green Paper addresses the issue of discrimination. We have not ruled out the use of legislation if there is evidence of systematic or widespread discrimination against reservists, if that cannot be tackled in any other way, just as we have legislation preventing employers from discriminating against someone who might be likely to take maternity leave, for example.
Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)
Notwithstanding the bar talk, my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Mr Leigh) made a serious point about the synchronisation of the draw-down or reduction in regular forces and the uplift in reserve forces. Can the Secretary of State assure the House that there will be enough flexibility in the emerging policy, consultation and Bill—which it is hoped will be introduced before the new Session—for us to be able to take steps to ensure there will be no reduction in regular forces unless we are completely confident that they are back-filled with the new reserve forces?
Mr Hammond
The trajectory for moving to the planned size of the regular Army of 82,000 is set. That is driven by our determination to maintain a balanced budget and to avoid the chaos under the previous Government when every year—sometimes twice a year—and at enormous cost, budgets for equipment had to be reset and projects were cancelled or delayed. A number of levers will be available to us in recruiting reservists, including the recruitment of ex-regular forces reservists. We will retain enough flexibility to be able to use those levers if we are not getting the result we want over the next six years.