Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Badenoch]

Look at them, Madam Deputy Speaker. If war comes, do we want this lot running the country—people so unserious that they do not understand that you cannot have social security without national security? If we cannot defend our country, there will be nothing left to defend. To be honest, I do not blame the Housing Secretary for stocking up on sauvignon blanc. If Russia attacks with these guys in charge, we will all need a drink.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Wes Streeting)]

indicated dissent.

[Mrs Badenoch]

The Defence Secretary is chuntering; he could not even commit to 3% on TV the other day. He is still not doing his job. The fact is that there are huge problems coming down the road, and this Budget is simply trying to get through today. It is a Budget for getting by, not for getting on.

I was cautiously optimistic when the right hon. Gentleman was appointed Chancellor. This is a man who once seemed to grasp the danger that Britain is now in. I thought that he was putting country before party when he quit as Defence Secretary—he will remember that I said he was a man of principle. Let me remind him what he wrote in that resignation letter in June. He said:

“I am certain that a…date for 3% of GDP on defence in 2030 is what Britain must set.”

[Interruption.] I have not finished—Labour MPs will have to wait for the punchline. They are so slow. He went on to say that if that did not happen, he would be

“forced to make decisions that would…increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe.”

Today is the day he should have set that date. He is the man who has failed to set a plan for 3%. [Interruption.] Today is the day that we should have got the plan.