Speeches by Martin.

“I was also struck by your championing the independence of your organisation, which is great. Some would argue that Operation Northmoor, the investigation into the Afghan Special Forces allegations, was shut down prematurely. Would you say that could not happen now, with these new governance arrangements and the indepen…”

“I am paraphrasing slightly, but I was quite struck that you said that your governance mechanisms are evolving. Where are they going from and to? What is the journey that you are on?”

“If we want to do that now, it would cost 3.5% of GDP—it is basically a 50% increase on our current defence budget. When we talk about £2 billion here or £5 billion there, that is peanuts. If we want to lead in the defence of the Euro-Atlantic area, we need an extra £30 billion for our defence budget now. The Government…”

“Other Members have articulated the threat we face, so I will not repeat those points. Suffice it to say, we are in jeopardy. Global threats are on the rise, but at the same time, UK capability is decreasing. The only way that we can close that gap is to re-arm. Rearming is the only credible way to deter war—that is the…”

“David, did you want to add anything?”

“In the annual report that is to be laid before Parliament, what will we actually be judging? What are the metrics?”

“Quality of housing? Speed of repairs?”

“You can imagine a world, though, where the geopolitical context changes so quickly that you do not have time to build or buy more houses. How do you take up that slack, or does it go into the rental sector?”

“Briefly, there is going to be a representative of the families and service personnel on the board, which is excellent. What sort of things do you see them raising? How do you see the housing service responding to that?”

“Okay. If I may, Natalie, you described it almost as subsidiary. You have an independent board, but it receives direction from the Ministry of Defence. We are in a rapidly changing era and geopolitical context, and operational requirements will shift—we might suddenly need to house 1,000 people over here or 10,000 over …”

“Thank you for your time today. Let us dive straight in. We are setting up this new Defence Housing Service. What is the relationship between the MOD and the Defence Housing Service? How will it be managed? How does accountability work?”

“David, I assume you agree.”

“It is great to speak in a debate that has been so well-tempered, and mostly very thoughtful. I start by welcoming the extension of the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds. The Lib Dems have campaigned on that for many decades, so we are delighted that the Government have reached into our policy locker. I also welcome a lo…”

“The Iranian regime is clearly abhorrent and no one would mourn its passing, but, as someone who fought in Afghanistan, I am grateful to the Prime Minister for saying that we need a viable, thought-through plan. Plainly the United States does not have that plan. President Trump said over the weekend that the US was plan…”

“This is the key point: in an election, if someone has to vote against what they do not want, it poisons our whole democratic well, because voters feel that they end up with something they have not chosen. They have made a negative choice, rather than a positive choice.”

“We have heard this argument a couple of times, and the right hon. Gentleman is making it well. He is making a grave accusation. Surely the easiest way to put this argument to bed would be for the Secretary of State to simply intervene on the right hon. Gentleman and state that auto-enrolment will be rolled out in all a…”

“The hon. Member is making an excellent speech. While we want the war in Ukraine to end and, of course, for Britain to play a leading role in that, including, if appropriate, the provision of troops, does he not share my fear, when we zoom out and look at the geopolitical context, that putting the troops in Estonia in U…”

“Irrespective of the Government, are you confident at the civil service level in Wales?”

“Thanks for delaying your regular meeting to be here with us this afternoon—it is much appreciated. I have the same question for all of you, and it is about each of your respective devolved Administrations. The new Covenant laid out in the Bill, when it becomes law, will be expanded in scope and there are extra duties t…”

“That is really helpful. Thank you.”