Defence: Expenditure

Lord Tunnicliffe Excerpts

Tuesday 11th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness speaks wise words, as ever.

[Lord Tunnicliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, I wonder whether we could build on that point, as I am a little confused. In the good old days, when a Secretary of State made a speech, one had reasonable assurance that he was speaking the policy of the Government. That is not so clear at the moment. Have the various statements by the Foreign Secretary been more in his role as a candidate for Prime Minister than as a representative of the Government?

[Earl Howe]

As I said earlier, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary was suggesting that it is right for the Government to ask themselves the question of how much they should be spending on defence. That is the question we are asking ourselves, or will shortly be doing, in the spending review that faces us this year.