Speeches by Ballinger.

“Given that the last Government reduced our Army to a size not seen since the Napoleonic era, we should take no lectures on defence from Opposition Members. The people who will benefit from this are the defence contractors in my constituency who have been struggling to sell their components to the EU since Brexit and ha…”

“To complete the circle, do you have anything to add, Ms Gaston?”

“Which of our red lines cause a problem with that?”

“You have all separately spoken about the challenges with defence and industrial co-operation. I have seen some of those in my own area, in the Black Country, where a lot of defence manufacturers have lost out on contracts with EU suppliers that they might otherwise have got before Brexit. We have talked about the barri…”

“Thank you. Mr Grant, you spoke about the SAFE fund, which is the £150 billion cross-EU package that is available. Might the UK access that? How would we go about negotiating access?”

“My constituents in Halesowen have written to me time and again complaining that they are calling their GP surgeries at 8 am, as instructed, but are still unable to get a same-day appointment. Can the Minister set out how the £100 million investment in GP surgeries, consulting rooms and other facilities will finally put…”

“3. What steps his Department is taking to support GPs to spend more time with patients.”

“Eighty years ago, Britain celebrated victory in Europe. The war was over, although the real achievement was not just the military triumph but the extraordinary effort that got us there: the unity, the resolve and the national determination to stand up to fascism and defend freedom and democracy. I have thought about th…”

“I congratulate the Minister on securing this vital trade deal. The automotive sector in the west midlands has been worried about increasing tariffs in the US, so a trade deal with India—a country where UK brands are highly respected—is extremely welcome. Can the Minister tell my constituents in Halesowen who work in th…”

“It has now been more than two months since Israel blocked food and aid getting into Gaza. Aid agencies tell us that 95% of their work has been stopped or drastically reduced because of the blockade. I welcome the Minister’s comments condemning these appalling actions, but we are now facing a total collapse of the aid s…”

“Q15. I welcome the Government’s decision this month to secure British Steel. At a time when European security is critical, defence manufacturers in the Black Country, like Somers Forge in Halesowen and B.B. Price in Cradley Heath, will be using that steel to make the military equipment that our defence needs. Will the …”

“I add my words of support for the action the UK took last night. The Houthi group is a terrorist organisation that has been deeply destabilising and it is right that we are playing our role in protecting freedom of navigation. The Halesowen community of Yemenis are really concerned about the desperate humanitarian situ…”

“You are saying that everything the EU does is quite legalistic. Is it worth looking through that lens when we are talking about security co-operation, or is that unhelpful?”

“I suppose there is the model of the Joint Expeditionary Force, which has a different set of countries. There might be something similar to that.”

“This may be quite an advantageous process to get to a European fighting force that is more effective.”

“I have a question on transparency. You mention some of the things that the UK is looking to get out of the reset—SPS, touring artists, a security arrangement—but it is not always clear exactly what we are hoping to achieve. That is certainly the case when we speak to European partners: they are very interested in what …”

“Maybe you could say, “How best could this Committee and Parliament in general scrutinise this as we go through the process?” There is a real role for us, which we are just starting to play.”

“Moving on to security and defence policy, we have been on a few visits to Ukraine and Brussels, and this is an area in which politicians from every Government we have spoken to have been very forward-leaning in asking us to do more. Ahead of the summit on 19 May, what do you think the UK should be prioritising in our s…”

“What do you think the cost of our involvement in that fund might be?”

“The defence industrial piece.”