"I thank the hon. Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) for this urgent question and thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing me to provide an update on the current status of the Ministry of Defence’s new medium helicopter procurement.
"I thank the hon. Member for his questions. He will have heard my first answer, which answers some of his questions, which said that the NMH decision will be made as part of the defence investment plan. That will be announced shortly, so I will not be able to give …..." Luke Pollard - View Speech
"My hon. Friend is right about two things. First, defence is an engine for growth. That is why we are investing more of the increasing defence budget in British companies. Secondly, the Conservatives left huge swathes of their equipment programme unfunded—a problem that we are sorting out because of the …..." Luke Pollard - View Speech
"Deary me. It is this Labour Government who are increasing defence spending to the highest level since the end of the cold war. It is the Conservatives who hollowed out and underfunded our armed forces. In their first year in government, they cut defence spending by £2 billion. In their …..." Luke Pollard - View Speech
"As a fellow Unite member, I recognise the importance of good, well-paid, unionised jobs in our defence industry. The opportunities in autonomy were set out clearly in the strategic defence review. We believe that a mix of crewed, uncrewed and autonomous systems—for not just some but all units of our …..." Luke Pollard - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Gentleman for his questions. They are, I am afraid, the same questions that his hon. Friend asked, so I will have to give him the same answers. All decisions on the new medium helicopter contract will be made as part of the defence investment plan. We …..." Luke Pollard - View Speech
"Constituencies across the south-west of England and around the country stand to benefit from the increase in defence spending set out by the Chancellor: £5 billion for the defence budget this year, which will rise to 2.5% and then onwards. We know that we are living in a new era …..." Luke Pollard - View Speech
"We have been very clear in the defence industrial strategy and the strategic defence review that we want more of a rising defence budget to go to British companies. That is changing the way in which defence procures, and it is the right change that we need to see as …..." Luke Pollard - View Speech
"The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to talk about small businesses and the wider supply chain. A large component part of the defence industrial strategy talks about those things as well; I am sure he has read that strategy, so he will be familiar with it. We want to …..." Luke Pollard - View Speech
"Yes, I can. We were very clear that we wanted to explore the options for the UK participating in SAFE, but we were also clear that we would not join at any price. Unfortunately, we were not able to make the value for the UK taxpayer and for UK industry …..." Luke Pollard - View Speech