Speeches by Twigg.

“That is what your understanding is from the current Government: that it will still be 2.5% including Ukraine and not 2.5% spent directly on the British military?”

“No; it is in our national interest to support Ukraine. The previous Government said that it was going to reach 2.5%. I assume, while the Ukraine war was ongoing, that would have been included in the 2.5%. It would not have been 2.5% spent directly on the British military.”

“How far are you down the road with that at the moment?”

“That is something that you actually are looking at and that will be part of your recommendations to the Secretary of State and the MOD.”

“I understand that you are conscious but I am being specific. My question is about whether you have been asked specifically to examine whether we are too thinly spread and whether we should be more focused.”

“You are then looking at whether, for instance, we have too many commitments, given the envelope of working, and whether we should focus more narrowly on where our Armed Forces should be involved.”

“Can I ask how far you are examining policy in terms of global commitments and operations that we are involved with at the moment? The Secretary of State last week said that there are around 10,000 personnel deployed in 50 geographical locations. What is your remit in terms of policy and the global commitments we alread…”

“That will definitely be a part of your whole process.”

“Let us just take one of those—say, logistics. You are part of this process. You will be testing the resilience of being able to basically deliver the logistics of whatever Armed Forces we should want in the future. That is what you are saying.”

“With that in mind, are you also considering the implications for logistics, sustainment and personnel? If so, how are you testing the resilience of those options?”

“You suspect that that will be a significant part of your recommendations at the end of the report.”

“The question that was referred to you by the Secretary of State was my question about how long it will take.”

“How long do you think it will be before we get to a position where you are more comfortable—I am not going to suggest that you will be satisfied completely—with the situation?”

“Would you agree, then, that we are still some way off being able to replenish our current stockpiles?”

“What would you say are the three main issues out of your control that have had an impact on industrial capacity? What discussions have you had with industry to improve that?”

“Let me come on to the industrial base. You have mentioned NLAW. I know that, for the operational reasons you have set out, you are not going to talk about Storm Shadow. To be able to send Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine or elsewhere or keep our own stockpiles, we need to produce enough of them. Another example is the …”

“Given all the issues and problems, many of which you have outlined today, what is it that most keeps you awake at night, now that you are four or five months into the job?”

“I am not asking that question.”

“Sorry—I am talking about resilience. You can put an army in the field, but for how long? I quite understand you have equipment, but as you would guess, we have been around this—we understand that bit.”

“I remember that conversation well, General, and we did agree to disagree. The key question, which you slightly touched on, is how resilient our Army will be. In other words, how long could we keep them in the field?”