Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rosie Cooper and Lord Hammond of Runnymede

Tuesday 20th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Philip Hammond]

The Government’s position is that we will negotiate a reform package in the European Union—that will take some time—and then present it to the British people before the end of 2017 for their endorsement or otherwise. The British people will have the last say, unlike under the position of the Labour party, which is apparently that the European Union is perfect. Let us remember that the Leader of the Opposition said on the BBC that, in his opinion, Brussels does not have too much power, and therefore he does not have a European Union reform policy.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

What recent discussions has the Minister had with the Palestinian leadership to ensure that Christian communities living under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction in the west bank and under Hamas rule in Gaza are allowed to practise their religion without fear or intimidation?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rosie Cooper and Lord Hammond of Runnymede

Monday 25th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab)]

15. What assessment he has made of the likely defence budget post-2015.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Philip Hammond)]

The defence budget for the financial year 2015-16 will be set in the current spending round, which is expected to conclude in the summer. The budget for subsequent years will be set in the next spending review. The Ministry of Defence has an agreement with Her Majesty’s Treasury that we may plan on the assumption of a 1% real-terms annual increase in the equipment budget—about 40% of the current defence budget, rising to 45%—from 2015-16 to 2020-21. Our equipment plan, which we recently published, is based on that assumption.

[Rosie Cooper]

On 14 May last year the Secretary of State boasted that he had balanced the budget over 10 years. To prove his claims, he said:

“I have agreed with the National Audit Office that it will review the equipment plan and confirm that it is affordable.”—[Official Report, 14 May 2012; Vol. 545, c. 264.]

However, in January the NAO’s report damningly said that it could not

“offer a definitive view on the affordability of the Equipment Plan.”

Will the Secretary of State tell us how we can believe a word that this Government say on defence when their central claim to competence cannot be confirmed by the independent auditor?

[Mr Hammond]

I think the hon. Lady needs to go away and read the National Audit Office report carefully. To put it into context, she probably needs to read some previous NAO reports on equipment plans. For example, in its 2010 report the NAO discovered that in a single year under Labour just two programmes—Typhoon and the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier—rose by £3.3 billion in cost. In 2009, it said that

“the budget remains consistently unaffordable over the next ten years”

and that attempts to rebalance the defence budget had represented poor value for money. We are very happy with the NAO’s review of the equipment plan, which recognised the huge steps of progress that we have made and set out an affordability assessment model for the Department’s assumptions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rosie Cooper and Lord Hammond of Runnymede

Monday 11th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

I notice that the hon. Lady did not tell the House what was the strategic reason for Labour having delayed the programme for five years, before we grasped the nettle and decided to cancel it. We take decisions on the basis of advice from the Armed Forces Committee, which takes the budget available and decides what the priorities should be. In this case, the First Sea Lord and his colleagues on the Armed Forces Committee have decided that the programme is not a high priority for naval spending.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

2. What his policy is on providing life insurance for service personnel.