Speeches by Baker.

“For more than 200 years, the Gurkhas have served our country with extraordinary loyalty alongside our British forces, yet thousands who enlisted in or before 1993 remain on an inferior pension scheme that leaves too many of them living in poverty, including in my constituency of Aldershot and Farnborough. I know just h…”

“As the Member for Aldershot, I know how deeply people in my constituency understand the cost of conflict and the value of standing by our allies, so I welcome this statement and thank the Secretary of State for his leadership on this issue. Does he agree that the outcome in Ukraine matters for not just European securit…”

“Last weekend marked Airborne Forces Weekend. I was privileged to attend the official opening of the new Airborne Memorial Shelter at Aldershot military cemetery. The shelter is a moving and permanent tribute to the service and sacrifice of our airborne forces, including those who lost their lives in the tragic air cras…”

“I welcome today’s agreement that is in train, as a powerful signal that Britain is once again stepping up to be a reliable European ally, with deeper UK-France co-ordination on nuclear deterrence marking a step change in how we engage with our closest partners. This is not just a diplomatic milestone; it has real poten…”

“To finish off on defence finance, every week I have an SME contact me with either a banking issue or an HMRC issue. This is a very difficult time for SMEs in the sector. The FS sector is very clear that there is not an issue and the defence sector is very clear that there is an issue. There are clearly issues that need…”

“Great, that is good to hear. Another focus for me would be HMRC. A lot of SMEs are getting caught up and tied in knots with HMRC because of MOD procurement cycles, so that has got to be a real focus. There are companies being dissolved, or at risk of being dissolved, because they have not been able to get the cash thro…”

“Looking beyond finance, let me come back to the wider ESG issue. SC Group—Supacat—down in your part of the world, Minister, have spoken publicly about how they have had their website taken off them because their provider achieved B Corp status and suddenly said, “We can’t provide your website anymore—you’re a defence c…”

“One of the conversations that has pained me the most over the six months I have been really looking at these issues is defence SMEs telling me that they have gone to the US for their VC because they cannot get the cash to grow their business in the UK. They are then bought up and we lose all that IP. How is the Departm…”

“Thank you for your contributions so far. I was really pleased to see a real focus in the SDR on turbocharging the organisation within the MOD, and the segmented approach to planning and delivering by domain, threat and industrial need. Has that been put into practice yet?”

“I am also really excited about the SME support hub. I think it is a really welcome step. How will it help smaller firms to get through those procurement hurdles and bring innovation into service faster?”

“As the mother of young children, I welcome the creation of “best start in life” family hubs and share the Government’s determination to give every child the best start in life in Aldershot, Farnborough, Hawley, Blackwater and Yateley. My constituency is home to thousands of serving personnel and their families. Militar…”

“21. What steps her Department is taking to tackle shoplifting.”

“Staff at Tesco in Aldershot tell me that the store is facing rising levels of shoplifting, with people walking out of the store with full trolleys. It is often the same individuals, who are emboldened because they do not fear the consequences. Hampshire police are doing their best, but they cannot attend every incident…”

“I warmly welcome the Government’s 10-year plan. It is a proud day to sit on these Benches. I also welcome the Government’s commitment to rebuilding Frimley Park hospital in my community in wave 1 of the new hospitals programme. The brilliant staff there, who are currently working in a hospital riddled with reinforced a…”

“I am talking about the national context. How are we going to support critical national infrastructure?”

“I would really like some idea of what this looks like in practice. How do we support our critical national infrastructure?”

“The SDR talks about the nature of the threats that we face at home and the whole-of-society approach that we need to take. Clearly, we have to have a really important conversation with the British public, and it is good to see a commitment to have that conversation, but we also have to not alarm them. How will you plan…”

“In the last 24 hours, we have heard that the vulnerabilities at the substation at Heathrow that caused the fire were identified in 2018. We have had that information for several years and not done anything about it. What are we going to learn from that situation?”

“Sure. It is just useful for us to get our thoughts on your thinking, because it obviously is an incredibly important piece, and we are keen to understand the direction of travel.”

“My community of Aldershot plays a role in homeland defence and resilience as the HQ of Standing Joint Command is located there. It was great to see a focus on that in the SDR. How will the SDR help to better protect our critical national infrastructure?”