Speeches by Clifton-Brown.

“We are running out of time, and I have several questions. Let us have short questions with short answers. I want to come back to Derek’s question on delays. We held a hearing on the F-35, the next tranche of which has been delayed. I am urging the National Audit Office to adopt a different way of costing these programm…”

“I am grateful for that candour. I think that another aspect is that you are not going to get a big amount of money—the increase in GDP spending on defence—until 2027. I just find it very hard, as Chair of a Committee that looks at figures, that you do not yet have even an indicative budget for next year. Maybe you are …”

“Okay. We are running out of time—the Chair will stop me in a minute. This document produced by this Committee in 2022-23 is all about procurement. It is entitled “It is broke—and it’s time to fix it”. You’ve got it there—you’ve read it! Brilliant.”

“You know very well that that NISTA plan is very short on detail. It covers only the very largest projects. That is not a satisfactory answer, if I may say so.”

“Like you, I had this document under my pillow and was reading it very late at night. It is quite tough reading but there are a lot of lessons in there. I have to say, this Committee did a very good job, and I am not on this Committee.”

“Right. Why is it that the Israelis, with 1,000 people, can do what DE&S does with 12,500 people?”

“After we have the DIP and are able to examine it, my Committee would like to invite you to come and talk about it, please.”

“He put a three-year horizon on it. He said we must be war-ready in three years.”

“The PAC has had a lot of hearings on Ajax, and it seems that one thread goes across it. Let us learn from a particular project of the general: there has been a culture of over-optimism, in General Dynamics and particularly within your organisation, DE&S. CROs and SROs did not know who they were reporting to and were no…”

“We are grateful for your evidence and I am absolutely with Lincoln Jopp—we want you to succeed. It has been a good hearing, except that we have been very weak on numbers. I hear that there is a real problem in the MoD on numbers, in that the SDR, which has a highly ambitious set of equipment that you are expected to pr…”

“Good afternoon, Prime Minister. As Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, I would like to raise with you a report that we published in 2024 into sensitive Government scrutiny. As you know, it is conventional for the Government to reply to Committee reports within two months of publication. However, 18 months on, my Co…”

“Thank you.”

“No, I have already given way once on this subject. Our wealth creating sector is shrinking, whereas the public sector is ballooning, yet the Government’s policies are punishing businesses and wealth creators. The freezing of tax thresholds is a tax rise, as the Chancellor has confirmed many times at the Dispatch Box, b…”

“It is always possible to find cases that are very difficult to deal with. In government, we have to make decisions about the totality of the population. I think it is up to parents on benefits to think very carefully about how many children they have and the circumstances in which they may find themselves.”

“Madam Deputy Speaker, thank you for allowing me to speak in this debate. I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), and I agree with what she said about farmers. I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. This Budget was an omnishambles. Not only have the Gov…”

“The sad fact is that youth unemployment—that is, unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds—is at a staggering 15%. Given the national insurance hikes and the rise in the minimum wage, employers are unlikely to consider taking young people on, which could have the disastrous effect that people who graduate from university o…”

“Would the Secretary of State not agree that connecting renewables to the grid requires considerable expense, and would not the former nuclear sites of Hunterston, Torness and Dounreay make very suitable sites for new nuclear power stations, from which the Scottish people have benefited hugely in the past?”

“14. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on the potential for new nuclear power sites in Scotland.”

“Does my right hon. Friend agree that this Government are not only taxing young people’s jobs but taxing their chances of owning a home through the increase in stamp duty and the rumoured increase on the capital gains on principal private residences?”

“My right hon. Friend is entirely right: freedom is not free, and nor is it enduring. We cannot assume that we will always be free; we have to continuously fight for and believe in it. That is why we want to support Ukraine and other countries that are being unjustly penalised in an illegal war, to make sure that they c…”