Speeches by Thomas.

“Ed, I want to pick up on something that you said about Government responsibilities, which harks back to something I read from you in the press recently about the High North and Scotland. You were talking about how although in the UK defence is led by the Government, resilience is devolved. You talked about how Lossiemo…”

“Thank you.”

“And among allies?”

“Reflecting on the capabilities point, I have a personal reflection to balance the things you were saying about the UK divesting itself of its abilities. When I finished Royal Marines training in 2018, my first action after three or four months was being sent, straight off the bat, into Arctic warfare training. That was…”

“For sure. This is the last question from me. Ed, your colleagues on the panel have been clear about the need for collaboration and leadership in the High North outside of NATO constructs. What is your view? Does NATO have clear policies for security and defence in the High North?”

“We are going to come on to JEF in a bit. Sorry to cut you off, but I totally recognise what you are saying. While I have the mic, I want to ask you something else, Dr Marc. I know that you have done a lot of work on military innovation. Obviously, NATO has DIANA, the NATO Innovation Fund and a whole innovation team tha…”

“Thank you. Marc?”

“We talked a bit already about NATO. I would like to pick up on something, Professor Kennedy-Pipe. As Ed set out, there is clear potential for NATO policies on land, with that route up to Murmansk and Finland now a part of NATO. How clear is NATO’s operating model and policy for joint maritime operations across NATO cou…”

“I do not want to get into other people’s questions; I just wanted to pick up on the point about resilience being devolved.”

“The point that Derek is making is that destroying something that is uncrewed may be less of a problem, but you can use those things offensively to kill people and there will be consequences to that.”

“How is that utilised? What is its benefit?”

“We are all clear about the outstanding capabilities—potentially world beating—of the UK submarine fleet. We also know the challenges of availability of that same fleet. You described tens of thousands of kilometres and miles of subsea infrastructure. We will not get into quite how unavailable some of our submarines are…”

“That is a very interesting way to finish your point about risks to UK capability, and you have highlighted people skills. I will move on to the other panellists, but I might come back to that at the end of my questions. Commodore, can you give us a loose sense—maybe only theoretically—of what the UK is able to field to…”

“Thanks so much to the panel. We have heard a lot about the state of play, adversaries and threats, but I want to bring us on to the UK and our own capabilities. Brett, what does the UK currently have, and what is it developing, to counter some of the threats that you have outlined? We have a clear picture of China and …”

“Thank you. Can I bring that question to Commodore John? For context, you work for Thales now. I am sure that, during your military career, you will have worked with French counterparts at various points. Can you give us a sense of the potential for further collaboration?”

“For the last few minutes we will jump around a little bit, and I will come to you, Professor Roberts. The country nearest us that has vaguely similar submarine and nuclear capabilities is clearly France, which is a good ally of ours. What is the scope for further co-operation, particularly away from nuclear-powered sub…”

“Every day that children are exposed to harmful and addictive content is another day of preventable harm. Yesterday, the Spanish PM, Pedro Sánchez, announced that Spain will ban social media for under-16s, pledging to protect children there from the digital wild west. Expectations are that the Government in Spain will b…”

“3. Whether her Department's consultation on children’s use of social media will include the implementation of a potential social media ban.”

“Sorry, just say that last stat again.”

“I am going to ask about potential collaboration between China and Russia, how close they might get in the future and whether we are ever likely to see a combined force fielded. What do you think has already happened in Ukraine in that space, whether it is tech or personnel? The context is that Russia is modern warfare …”