New Medium Helicopter Contract

Debate between Luke Pollard and Simon Hoare

Monday 12th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Luke Pollard]

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 of threat, and we are renewing our armed forces as a result. Many of the contracts that we are placing now are for the newer end of technology—autonomous systems and latest capabilities. That retires some of the old capabilities we inherited from the previous Government, who would not give our warfighters the fighting advantage that they need—especially given the lessons learned from Ukraine. Later this month, we will stand up the Office for Small Business Growth, which will help to support more small businesses and procurement in defence. There will be advantages, given the number of small businesses around Bournemouth that have huge potential to contribute to our defence and national security.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

Leonardo is an important company for Somerset, Dorset and the wider south-west. The Minister will know that corporate decisions are competitive, and his Department plays a key part in shaping what those decisions will be. The defence investment plan is now long overdue. I appreciate that he probably cannot give us a specific date, but it would be helpful if he could tell the House whether we will see the plan in this financial year or the next.

[Luke Pollard]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and for the tone in which he asked it, and he is right to say that corporate decisions about where investment goes are important. That is one reason that we have continued dialogue with Leonardo, not just in the UK but also with its parent company in Italy, to ensure that it is kept abreast of our challenges with the DIP, and with the military need and procurement strategy. I am afraid I will not be able to give a date for the DIP. We are working flat out to get it, and it will be published shortly when ready.

Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill

Debate between Luke Pollard and Simon Hoare

2nd reading
Tuesday 9th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Luke Pollard]

As I just mentioned—the hon. Gentleman might have missed it—I will give way in a moment, but I will now make some progress.

Courts and international bodies were already making decisions that undermined our position. Others would have followed suit, taking us down a path towards making the base inoperable. This Government will not allow that to happen. There has been a wealth of misinformation on these legal points, and those who have suggested that the UK should simply ignore international law fail to recognise the true impacts of these cascading adverse rulings, which would have not only impeded our ability to control and operate the base, but would have swiftly undermined our ability to control the waters, the air and the electromagnetic spectrum on which the base relies. Such rulings would have fundamentally undermined the very capabilities that make the base so uniquely valuable to the UK and the US, our allies.

This treaty eliminates that legal threat. Under the treaty, the UK will retain all the rights and authorities necessary for full operational control of Diego Garcia. It provides for unrestricted use of the base.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Luke Pollard]

In just one moment.

The treaty provides for control over the movement of all persons and goods on the base, and for control over the electromagnetic spectrum used for communications. It ensures that nothing can be built within a buffer zone of 24 nautical miles without our say so, and it delivers an effective veto on any development in the Chagos archipelago that threatens the base—something that the previous Government failed to secure in their negotiations. It prohibits foreign security forces from establishing a presence on the outer islands.

--- Later in debate ---

[Luke Pollard]

I thank my hon. Friend for that. It must be quite a freeing experience, because we now know that nearly every single legacy Tory MP during the last Government—whose Ministers started the negotiations, negotiated a deal, and made statements and answered questions in this House—were not actually supporting their Front Benchers, which is what we saw, but were deeply upset with the Conservative Government. If that is their genuine position, not just their political position now, they should have raised those concerns with the Foreign Secretary at the time. They should have been clear about it, but I believe that not many of them did so, and that tells a story.

[Simon Hoare]

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his promoted position. If he is asking the House to thank him for negotiating what we already have, I think our thanks will be a long time in coming, because the outcome of the negotiations is pretty poor as far as this country is concerned. Surely we have given away what is of most strategic importance in this space as we now have to notify the Mauritian Government any time we want to do anything there. We do not currently have to do that, and therefore the element of surprise has been lost.

[Luke Pollard]

I have a lot of time for the hon. Gentleman, but I am afraid he is incorrect about the notification criteria. There is a lot of fake news out there—which I and the Minister beside me, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth, have corrected in this House before—about the suggestion that pre-notification of action is required; it is not. As is explicitly set out in the documents, we do not need to undertake pre-notification. It is established under the criteria that post-action notification for overseas bases is normal, and that would be normal for the UK and our overseas allies that have overseas bases. It is not unusual, and he will be familiar with the fact that there is further international reporting of any military action. It is important that we go on the facts. Some people are worried about the situation that the hon. Gentleman outlined, but I can reassure him that they do not need to worry about it, because what he said is not accurate.

UK Military Base Protection

Debate between Luke Pollard and Simon Hoare

Monday 23rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Luke Pollard]

I thank my hon. Friend for championing defence as the Member of Parliament for his constituency. He is exactly right in highlighting that Palestine Action has targeted not just military bases, but defence businesses—businesses employing people up and down the country and contributing to our national defence. He is right to do so, and I can reassure him that conversations between the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office, police forces and those in our defence supply chain happen regularly, and we will continue to keep them abreast of developments and the concerns we may have.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

Given that a female officer commands Blandford Camp, I totally echo the comments made by the hon. Member for North East Derbyshire (Louise Jones).

There will be a lot of concern among personnel in the camp and those who live in the communities around it that they are now targets for either home-grown domestic terror or those who may be described as “sleepers” in our country from countries and regimes that do not wish us well. Could I invite the Minister to find a way to confidentially ensure that Members of Parliament across the House who have military bases in their constituencies, as I do in North Dorset, are advised as to whether those installations pass the test of security or whether work needs to be done, and if it does, to what timeframe it will happen and what work is involved? There will be a lot of anxiety in those communities, and MPs across the House can play an important part in allaying those concerns in their communities.

[Luke Pollard]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for the way he approached his question. I share his concerns to ensure that Members of Parliament are adequately informed about defence. Indeed, it was the Defence Secretary’s intent, when we took office, to renew and refresh the relationship between the Ministry of Defence and Parliament with a more open conversation. We are endeavouring to do that with further briefings and I will take his suggestion on board as we look at how we implement the review.