Speeches by Carns.

“Amendment 13 would require local authorities to prepare and publish detailed action plans within six months of the passing of the Act. The Government are fully committed to strengthening the delivery of the covenant at a local level. The Bill represents a significant step forward by placing the duty on an improved stat…”

“That is a really good question. I will come back to the Committee with the exact detail, but lots of councils have engaged and have gold, silver and bronze standards. Some of them are exceptional. Some of them—this goes back to the point about the postcode lottery—do not necessarily need to sign up, because their commu…”

“I read the motion with a sense not of anger but of disappointment, because at a moment like this, when British armed forces are actively protecting our people and our interests in the middle east, intercepting drones, defending our bases, and preparing for further and potential escalation, I had hoped for a more well t…”

“We will publish the defence investment plan as soon as is feasible. The hon. Gentleman will not find anyone who wants more than me more defence spending at a faster rate, but this is a moment for serious decisions to be taken in the national interest. We need to get ourselves back on track. There has been a whole pleth…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her contribution. We have a large defence budget, and in the past it has not been spent effectively. I think we can collectively agree, on both sides of the House, that huge procurement mistakes have been made in the past that have resulted in either the wrong equipment or the money going the…”

“Defence is very clear about what it requires. We are working collectively across Government to come to a joint decision on where that spending portfolio will fall. There are points in this motion that are obvious. The world is more dangerous, and we are investing more in defence, but recognising that is the easy part; …”

“I thank the right hon. Member for a very balanced contribution, as always. On the specific issue, I will come back to you and write to you on where we are and how the review is moving forward.”

“Let me go back to the point about the 20,000 troops. The motion calls for more troops, but it says nothing about how they would be recruited, trained, housed or equipped. It does not even begin to answer the most basic questions about what those troops would actually be used for. It proposes funding defence through unr…”

“I hope war is not interested in you personally, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Iranian threat—Hezbollah, Hamas, lethal aid in Iraq and Afghanistan, and supporting terrorist organisations around the world—is not lost on me at all. However, I will be really clear: I have served in every staff college in the career structure o…”

“I will give way in two seconds. What I will say is that a vision without a plan is a dream, and I am concerned that if we had followed the Opposition’s direction, we would have ended up in a nightmare.”

“The Opposition would have dragged us into this conflict quicker than we could possibly have imagined. We have made the difficult but correct decision to remain in a defensive posture. That is the right decision. Let me deal directly with the record that we inherited. The shadow Defence Secretary himself admitted that d…”

“I will give way to the right hon. Gentleman.”

“I am going to a make a bit of ground, and then I will come back to the right hon. Gentleman. We come to perhaps the most revealing part of the motion: the suggestion that defence should be funded through changes to the two-child benefit cap. Let me say this plainly: you do not strengthen national security by setting it…”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his contribution. We are moving in that direction; the national armaments director is providing professional oversight now and is looking at reviewing the system. I think we can all collectively agree on whether we have got value for money over the past 14 to 20 years. We need to ma…”

“We have the communication plan set and ready to go.”

“Luke, that is exactly the case. It is utterly ridiculous in this day and age, given how drones have developed, that we can have drones flying over the most sensitive sites and we are able to do nothing outside of the police powers. Clause 4 will broaden those powers to ensure that defence, police and personnel can use …”

“I used to be the chief of staff of the carrier strike force. Within that, I was responsible for the validation of our mine countermeasures unit, which sits in Bahrain. They have an uncrewed mine-hunting capability that has been tested and trialled for several years now. It is capable, and we are looking into it for var…”

“Those are two separate issues. My enthusiasm for uncrewed systems is matched by my boss as well. We have £4 billion in the SDR moving towards uncrewed systems, the uncrewed centre of excellence and a targeting web that is critical in the management of the data that the drones will collect, along with the required AI ma…”

“I am always pushing on drones, whether that is getting drones into the military or defending against what is becoming a ubiquitous capability. We have had significant incidents across Defence of drones in and around the defence estate. These measures put in place the correct protections to allow defence personnel and d…”

“Family accommodation was the focus of this strategy. Single living accommodation will be done after that. The reality is that for the last 14 years we have categorically under-invested in defence housing. We have left our families in a state of disarray, and our estate is dilapidated because of a lack of consistent fun…”