Speeches by Thomas.

“Secretary of State, are you implying or suggesting that once the Haddon-Cave inquiry resolves, you would potentially be open to reassessing how this country scrutinises UKSF? Is that what we are to understand?”

“A bit of this debate should be about honesty. If the Ministry of Defence were to step forward and say, “We want to modernise and be able to buy kit at scale and at pace, but we have a limited budget,” it would just be being honest and realistic to say that we have to let some things go. With my Royal Marines background…”

“Q13. Two weeks ago, the Chancellor announced a historic £22.6 billion investment into the NHS, because it is our duty to rescue this country’s health service after 14 years of mismanagement, under-investment and, unfortunately, misleading announcements from the Conservative party. In Plymouth, Derriford hospital, which…”

“What a fantastic day for every person in Plymouth who uses the bus! We strongly welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement that £4.5 million will be invested in our buses over the next couple of years. She said that that represents an investment not just in buses, but in people and communities. That is fantastic to …”

“I welcome the Bill: it is great news. I left full-time service only last year, and it is fantastic to see the pledges that I hoped the Government would fulfil being brought—I hope—into law. I first encountered these proposals last year when we were joined by Eva Högl, the German armed forces commissioner, in the House …”

“Folks in Plymouth are really interested in how the Government will solve this big problem. They will welcome the increase in money towards dealing with the problem and the increase in returns. Another thing they want is constructive, lively debate with ideas in this place. Unfortunately, the Opposition seem so devoid o…”

“Not only the MOD and serving personnel, but industry, will be looking on very keenly to see what comes out of the SDR. How much scope do you think the Government will have to change how industry interacts with the customer, that being the MOD, in a way that we have not seen for the last several decades, particularly in…”

“Very quickly, Professor Chalmers, would you support, and would you like to see in the SDR, budget being ringfenced for research and development, and innovation, particularly for SMEs? Would you like to see our Government go that far? Do you think that is a good model?”

“Thank you, Professor Chalmers, for being with us. I have a question about the strategic defence review that is due to land early next year—we are not sure exactly when—and your assessment of the Government’s ability to reprioritise and change things, given that it has been laid out that some of the big-ticket items, su…”

“I think we all understand that Conservative Members are desperate to talk about anything other than their record of 14 years of failure in government. We hear from hon. Friends and Opposition Members how those failures are affecting constituents every single day. My question is, what next? How will the Conservatives di…”

“I warmly welcome the £2.26 billion of aid announced today. It is great news for those fighting for democracy in Europe and a day of low morale in the Kremlin—it is fantastic. The Ukrainians might well use some of the money to continue to innovate at pace. Every few weeks they create new cutting-edge and adaptive techno…”

“Devonport dockyard in Plymouth is where the UK repairs and maintains our submarine fleet. In future, there will be even more submarines, and we will need even more infrastructure for that upkeep, so what conversations is the Secretary of State having with the Secretaries of State responsible for housing and transport t…”

“Can I begin by congratulating Conservative Members on their sudden interest in national security? They must have forgotten all about the millions and millions of Russian roubles swilling about in the party’s bank accounts. I do have a question for the Foreign Secretary, and I want to ask a question on behalf of my cons…”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dover and Deal (Mike Tapp) for his intervention and his fantastic service to the nation. He worked in those organisations that keep us safe, and is not just commenting from the side. The inheritance from the previous Government was dire. When Labour took office it was against the b…”

“For me, the UK is the best country in the world; I do not think we should make our country a less good place so that fewer people want to come here. That is not the route to go down.”

“Thank you, Sir Mark. I will not take five minutes. Like many of my neighbours and the people I represent in Plymouth, I served our country in the armed forces. We are really proud of the armed forces community. For us and our families, national security and the security of our borders is paramount. We came into governm…”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon) for securing this important debate. We have heard from many Members how dire the situation is in their constituencies, but can we for a second celebrate the incredible staff who already put so much effort and passion into the provision they arrange for c…”

“I completely agree with my hon. Friend’s point about the funding cuts. I was going to respond to a point made by the right hon. Member for Tatton (Esther McVey), but I removed it from my contribution due to the time constraints. She asked earlier whether the Government had conducted feasibility studies on the removal o…”

“Thank you, Madam Chair. Before I talk about Plymouth, may I celebrate the amazing speeches that we have heard this afternoon, and pay tribute to the wealth of experience and passion, not just on the Government Benches but across the Chamber? It is really heartening. My hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley (Jake Ric…”

“Does the Foreign Secretary agree that Ukraine joining NATO is vital not only to Ukraine’s security but to the security of all European countries?”