Armed Forces (Redundancies) Debate

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Department: Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces (Redundancies)

Anas Sarwar Excerpts
Wednesday 2nd March 2011

(13 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Liam Fox Portrait Dr Fox
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The squadrons that were removed from service were not covered by the SDSR announcement; what happened was the result of the previous Government’s decision in the 2009 planning round, which is now being implemented.

Anas Sarwar Portrait Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)
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We must not forget that 11,000 of our bravest men and women have lost their jobs because of the Secretary of State’s decision. Many of them, and their families, watching or listening will find his tone rather distasteful and smug at this time. We must remember that they are men and women who risk their lives every day in defence of this great country. They deserve a lot more respect than they are being shown in the Secretary of State’s answers.

Liam Fox Portrait Dr Fox
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Clearly we are going to disagree on our approach, because what the hon. Gentleman calls smug, I would call angry. We are very angry indeed that we were left with a £38 billion hole in the Ministry of Defence and a massive national deficit, the interest payments on which are bigger than our defence budget. We are angry, but we are absolutely determined to get the situation under control, and then we will urge the British people never again to elect such an economically incompetent Government as the previous one.