Speeches by Healey.

“First, we will set a new benchmark and that will be shared with the Committee. To be fair to us, Mr Chairman, when the Committee has asked for briefings in private and with a degree of confidentiality, we have always tried to respond.”

“The vision and the programme for the next decade will be raising levels of warfighting readiness alongside—as the SDR laid out—making defence an engine for growth in this country. Those are exactly the fine judgments that we are making at the moment as part of this investment planning process. It is not simply about pr…”

“Mr Thomas, those were not the two lodestars that you saw driving defence decisions under the last Government. We set this out as a Government in the manifesto that you and I were elected on and we have captured it in this first-ever of its kind Strategic Defence Review published last year. It is that Strategic Defence …”

“With respect, those are quite narrow questions. You asked me for priorities. I am saying to you that those are set out quite clearly in the Strategic Defence Review, including in the 62 recommendations we have accepted. You asked me whether I can evidence any of the priorities; I can do that with the actions and decisi…”

“You have been positive about the way that we have been able to do that to this Committee and there were complaints that the previous Committee did not get that information. If it is a briefing that the Committee is looking for on the way that we are trying to change what the permanent secretary describes as a strategic…”

“Luke Pollard, Minister for DRI, updated the House quite properly last week. I am furious that vital information was withheld.”

“It is clear we did not have the full facts in the lead-up to decisions about the initial operating capability. That IOC has been withdrawn. The Army is no longer in charge of this programme. A new senior responsible officer, SRO, is now in place. I have been clear that we must back it or scrap it. The work is being don…”

“You will understand that there is a contract process under way and that has not been completed yet. I am deeply aware of just how important the skills of the workforce are and the potential that they have to play a part in the transformation that we need to see, in the technology we develop, the manufacturing we produc…”

“Three points. First, buy British is clearly a shorthand. What it signifies is a termination and a first focus on the role that defence can play as an engine for growth, creating new jobs and opportunities, skills, and backing good British-based businesses and innovators for the future. Second, it is not always possible…”

“Thank you for that welcome. You rightly describe this Committee as a critical friend, partisan about defence but properly demanding of us in Government. Can I place on record my and our appreciation for the work that you, your members and your staff do and for the constructive challenge that you offer to the work that …”

“The SDR is a vision with a set of 62 recommendations, all of which we have accepted. It is a vision for transforming defence over a decade. Centre to it is the imperative to raise the levels of warfighting readiness in this country in order to better deter the increasing threats we face and to work more closely with th…”

“Of course. You are a one-man institutional memory for this Committee if I may say so, Mr Norman.”

“I am going to ask General Nesmith to talk about that. So no to savings. We are making decisions about controlling and managing our budgets within the year, as you would expect us to. And no to prioritising shiny big platforms over the operations and concerns to put the men and women in uniform at the heart of our defen…”

“It has reinforced the case that we have made as a Government since July 2024 and the vision and imperative of transformation that was set out in last year’s Strategic Defence Review. In the context that we see and that you outlined there, Mr Chairman, we have certainly seen demands on defence rising and uncertainties i…”

“Will we be investing in more UK sovereign capability? Yes. An argument I made for several years before the election and we declared at the election when we were elected to Government is that we would look to direct British defence investment first towards British-based firms, new jobs and innovation in this country. Th…”

“No, this is a Prime Minister who refuses to be drawn on what he sees as false binary choices, US or Europe, China trade or China concerns about security. In this complex world—particularly with a complex country like China—there are both enormous, important trading opportunities with China and security concerns that ar…”

“They will be part of what we plan to deliver over the next decade, which is, of course, the period of the SDR.”

“They will be part of what we look to pursue over the next decade because we want to implement those parts of the SDR.”

“I understand that. First on the Puma, that was a decision I took last year. We are in a process. It is a big challenge for a new Government to deal with what was a defence equipment programme that was heavily overcommitted, badly underfunded, and in many areas unsuited to the changing threats that we face. As we make o…”

“Are you talking about the equipment plan produced under the last Government? Why on earth would we continue with something that was as badly flawed as that? It was not just that the NAO regarded it as underfunded and unlikely to be delivered; it also pointed out that the whole way that defence was previously putting th…”