Royal Navy: Caribbean

Baroness Goldie Excerpts

Monday 9th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I thank the noble and gallant Lord for that question. As he knows, we have published the national security strategy, which goes much wider than national security strategies have in the past. On his specific question, I am very happy to find out whether that analysis has been undertaken and come back to him, but he knows of our wider commitment to national security and increasing defence capacity.

[Baroness Goldie (Con)]

My Lords, further to the question from my noble friend Lord Trenchard, there is concern about the overall health of the Royal Navy, as frequently alluded to by the noble Lord, Lord West. There are reports that BAE may give away our UK building slots for the Type 26 frigate to Norway, which will leave us dependent on seven elderly Type 23 frigates. Can the Minister confirm that the UK Type 26 build will continue as originally scheduled to avoid unacceptable weakening of our naval capability?

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I will come to the point about Type 26, but let me first answer the wider question that the noble Baroness asks me about the capacity of the Royal Navy. The most recently published data shows that the Royal Navy’s readiness performance in 2025 reflects strong operational output in key categories and predictable reductions linked to planned maintenance cycles and unplanned defects. A great deal of work has been done to ensure that the efficient management of the defence forces in the Royal Navy ensures that coverage. As the noble Baroness knows, the Government are doing a lot to address the capacity of the Royal Navy overall, including the Type 26 frigates—I have answered a question on this before in your Lordships’ House. It is crucial that we work closely with Norway on the procurement of those Type 26 frigates. The sequencing of that will be part of how we go about ensuring security in the High North.