Ukraine

Alan Strickland Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Luke Pollard]

I thank the hon. Lady for putting on record the Ukrainians who are in the UK because they found sanctuary with families up and down the country. They will continue to receive our support.

We entered into negotiations with our European friends around SAFE in good faith. We wanted to secure a deal, but we were also clear from the start that we would not accept a deal that was not in the best interests of our taxpayers or the British defence industry. Sadly, we were not able to find a fair financial measure for inclusion. We were happy to pay our fair share, but we were not willing to pay above that.

We continue to work with our European friends, and British companies can participate in SAFE arrangements up to 35%. We will continue to work through bilateral arrangements, such as the Trinity House agreement we signed with Germany and the frigate deal with our friends in Norway, which will benefit Scotland considerably. There is more to do across Europe, and we will do continue to do it, whether we are in SAFE or not.

[Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor) (Lab)]

I welcome the Minister’s announcement that readiness levels have been revised and increased so that, if a just peace can be successfully negotiated, forces are ready to deploy to prevent future Russian aggression. Will the Minister set out to the House the extent to which the coalition of the willing is ready for such a significant deployment and commitment and—if he can comment—what force elements might be deployed first?

[Luke Pollard]

The coalition of the willing is ready to deploy. I am afraid that I will not be able to give the news, which Putin wants, about what units we are deploying, but the coalition of the willing has a number of elements: safe skies, which would probably be the fastest deployment of assets in terms of combat air Typhoon jets and allied jets, to secure airspace; safe seas, securing the maritime domain; and supporting the regeneration of Ukrainian forces.

We continue to work with our coalition of the willing allies around rotating readiness, so that whenever peace comes, we are able to deploy. We have UK personnel working with our friends and allies on the coalition of the willing to ensure that, if President Trump’s peace deal is successful, we are able to move immediately after that deal takes place.