Defence Readiness Bill

Baroness Goldie Excerpts

Thursday 9th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Goldie (Con)]

My Lords, I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, that I would not take when I arrive for a debate as a model for anything. I can say without fear of contradiction that my Whips will endorse that sentiment. I, too, am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Harris of Haringey, for enabling this debate. It is not just timely; it is important. I thank him for the persistence with which he has pursued these critical issues of resilience and preparedness. I will structure my contribution around three simple propositions: the defence readiness Bill is not ready; the national conversation that was supposed to accompany it is currently mute; and the Treasury’s purse strings, as evidenced by the DIP, remain bleakly closed. Each failing compounds the others, and together they explain why, a year on from the strategic defence review, we are still debating proposals rather than debating action.

On the first point, let me be blunt about the timeline. The strategic defence review recommended this legislation over a year ago. It was absent from the King’s Speech in May. Ministers have told this House and the other place that proposals are being developed, that officials are working at pace and that the Bill will come forward later in this Parliament. We have words, but no date. The authors of the review have made no secret of their frustration at the yawning gap between the urgency of their conclusions and the glacial pace of their implementation—a frustration that I think we all inferred from the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Harris, today. Speaking before the Defence Committee this week, the noble Lord, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, said:

“We are running out of years, and the reality is the challenge is now bigger and more serious and earlier than we anticipated, and yet the defence investment plan itself does not come up to it”.


These words of the noble Lord should bring the Government up short.

The second point is on the national conversation. The noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, is correct to say that this is not some fireside chat. The review was explicit that a whole-of-society approach requires the Government to level with the country about the threats we face, the sacrifices that resilience may demand and the roles that reserves, industry, local authorities and ordinary citizens might all be asked to play, as the noble Lord, Lord Harris, so eloquently—indeed, chillingly—described.

Instigating at least the planning for how that conversation should be structured, followed by rollout, could have started a year ago. Where is it? Is the Minister still the lead on it, or is that to be found somewhere else in government? I hope the Minister is the lead on it. If there is any ambiguity, I have a piece of advice for him: you plough the furrow and make the others follow, because I happen to think the Minister would make a good job of it.

Quite apart from the financial implications of all of this, my noble friend Lord Harlech rightly pointed out that if the Government intend to ask the public to accept new obligations, whether on mobilisation, infrastructure or preparedness in their own communities, the public have to be brought into this discussion long before the legislation is passed, not presented with it as a fait accompli. This vacuum, in my opinion, is doing damage and potentially creating danger because complacency is filling the void. The watchword should be “urgency”.

Thirdly, and perhaps most tellingly, there is the Treasury. Every government document on this subject is written in the conditional: commitments when circumstances allow, ambitions for the next Parliament, targets that recede as the calendar advances. The 3% ambition remains an ambition. The gulf between what the review says is needed and what the Treasury is willing to make available remains. If anything, fiscal pressures have made that gulf wider and starker. The same timidity that produced 10 months of delay on the defence investment plan is stamped all over this Bill. A readiness Bill that arrives without the resources to make readiness real will be a Bill in name only, a framework, a skeleton with no functioning limbs. I ask the Minister to give an assurance to the House that this legislation will not become simply another unfunded commitment layered on top of all the others.

I have three questions for the Minister. When precisely will the Bill be introduced? What concrete steps are being taken to start the national conversation that the SDR said was indispensable? Can the Minister confirm whether the Treasury has agreed to fund the powers the Bill will create or are we again being asked to legislate first and pay later? I think we are all agreed that the country’s resilience is critical and it cannot be built on aspiration alone, however worthy. I hope the Minister can offer some comfort and provide some details of substantive proposals, rather than rhetoric.