Speeches by Foord.

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving way; I understand why he might need to take a moment to compose himself. This debate is an opportunity for those of us whose friends and family have served in the armed forces or security organisations and lost their lives to pay tribute to them. Although today is about the v…”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Harris. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) for securing a debate on this subject, and pay tribute to all Members who have spoken. The hon. Member for Beckenham and Penge (Liam Conlon) told the story of Christian; we have heard he…”

“The threats and nuclear sabre-rattling that we have heard from President Putin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is utterly unacceptable, and the response from the British and French Governments has been robust. For me, defence co-operation between the UK and France is always welcome. Will our Governments a…”

“The BBC covered the Government’s publication of the national security strategy last month with the headline “UK must prepare for war scenario”. Often, the public will read an alarming headline like that without reading about the context, or about what it might mean for them or what they should do about it. Will the Gov…”

“There are over 10,000 education, health and care plans currently registered in Devon and the average cost is rising—it is now over £18,000 per pupil. Much of that is spent on private providers who are not subject to the rigorous oversight that we demand of SEND provision in the state sector. Given that the Leader of th…”

“The Justice Secretary talks about the need to expedite trials for the sake of victims of crime, and she is absolutely right. As she considers the proposals from Sir Brian Leveson, will she take into account those who are innocent and who stand wrongly accused, who are having to wait anxiously for years for their day in…”

“And some that aren’t, perhaps.”

“It is up to €600 billion. That is going to make a difference to UK-US relations, isn’t it?”

“We suppose that the United States will not be part of the SAFE programme. Are there implications there for the UK?”

“Thank you, Tan, and thank you, Minister. Staying with the example you gave of the procurement of the F-35A, what do you make of the charge that this decision to procure nuclear-certified aircraft is on the one hand restoring sub-strategic nuclear capability to the UK, but on the other hand ironically making the UK more…”

“That is a departure from what we saw when we last had this level of tension between Russia and the west, back in the 1990s. Then, the UK had its own independent air-launched nuclear deterrent. Recently in the Lords, Admiral Lord West asked the Defence Minister, Lord Coaker, whether the UK ought to reassess its nuclear …”

“One last question: it provides additional options and additional capability, but I am suggesting that this could be an opportunity to review the UK’s nuclear posture. I am thinking about the posture of deliberate ambiguity that we have had for many years. We last considered it when NATO had conventional inferiority to …”

“This is not just about capability; it is also about intent, and about signalling the conditions under which the deterrent could be used. We have had this long-standing approach, a posture of deliberate ambiguity, but many Russia experts are telling us that this time we need to make clear how we are communicating. We do…”

“Minister, since you last appeared in front of the Committee, the UK has agreed a defence and security memorandum of understanding with the European Union, and the UK is seeking access to the SAFE programme. How can the UK shape that programme, given that we are outside the European Union?”

“Certainly. I have only one question, Chair, but first I must correct the record: it is the F-16 that is being used in Ukraine, not the F-22. I would like to ask about contingency planning for the US withdrawing what remains of its supplies to Ukraine. Can you tell us about discussions that you have had with the UK’s al…”

“There are members of this Committee who have served in uniform, so we do take the point that you do not want to endanger British lives. Staying with procurement, two weeks ago the Government announced that they were going to procure the F-35A and would be seeking to use the F-35A in a nuclear-certified role. How much i…”

“Are you at all concerned that what we have here is the defence procurement tail wagging the foreign policy dog?”

“In a 2016 paper published by RAND, it was suggested that the legal agreement that set up the global spares pool allows participant nations to opt out and establish separate stocks of assets not subject to shared management. Is this something that the British Government have explored with allies?”

“The F-35 is not being used in Ukraine; the F-22 is being used in Ukraine.”

“Staying with arms export licensing for the moment, Foreign Secretary, I take your point about the law, but many of our constituents suspect that the British Government are not doing all that they can to influence the Israeli Government in relation to the war in Gaza, and specifically on the subject of the sale of F-35 …”