Middle East

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Monday 13th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I agree that our armed forces and our capabilities have been hollowed out over many years, in particular under the last Government, I am afraid to say—Ben Wallace, the then Defence Secretary, was very clear about that. The right hon. Member is right to say that now is the point at which there is probably more conflict going on in the world than most of us have seen in our lifetimes, and that is why we have to increase defence spending. That is why we took the decision to increase to 2.5% sooner than people thought we would, and that is already taking place. I made commitments at the NATO summit last year in relation to the further spending that we need to put in place. I stand by those commitments. We must go further and we must go faster.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

Let me thank the Prime Minister for his statesmanship. This weekend saw the Pakistani Government step up and take global leadership by expertly hosting and mediating negotiations between Iran and America. The whole world is indebted to the noble efforts of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and General Syed Asim Munir to achieve a ceasefire. Given that Pakistan is a long-term ally of Britain, will the Prime Minister outline what support he is giving the Pakistani Government to facilitate an agreement for long-lasting peace and stability in the middle east?

[The Prime Minister]

Can I reiterate my thanks to Pakistan for the role that it is playing? I can tell the House that I spoke to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Friday, as we were going into the talks this weekend, about the talks and what support we could put in place, and the Foreign Secretary spoke to her counterpart this afternoon. It is very important that we support this process and try to move it forward, not to let it escalate.