Armed Forces: East of Suez

Lord Robathan Excerpts

Thursday 9th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Robathan (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach (Con)]

My Lords, we will hear from the noble Lord, Lord West, and then from my noble friend.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

Yes, indeed. The noble Lord will know that these matters are kept constantly under review. The new class of Queen Elizabeth carriers are going to be the biggest and most powerful warships ever built for the Royal Navy, so the capability is certainly there. Their deployment to the Gulf will depend very much on what the demand will be.

[Lord Robathan]

My Lords, some of us may be able to remember the speech by Harold Wilson, some 50 years ago, in which he said that withdrawing from east of Suez would leave the Americans and Chinese facing each other eyeball to eyeball. Does the Minister consider that the current difficulties in the South China Sea are similarly dangerous, and what contribution can the UK make there?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

The situation in the South China Sea is certainly also being kept under review, but this Question relates to the Gulf. At the moment we see it as extremely important to be sure that our presence in the Gulf is strong enough for our interests there and to work with our Gulf partnerships.