"I am grateful to all noble Lords who have contributed. As I said in my opening remarks, Amendment 1 was, in many ways, intended as a probing amendment. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Lancaster, for pointing out the slightly sloppy redrafting of the amendment since Committee and …..." Baroness Smith of Newnham - View Speech
"My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lady Baroness, Lady Bennett, for bringing this amendment. As she pointed out, we had an amendment in Committee that listed a whole set of different groups to which we suggested the Armed Forces commissioner should pay particular attention. It was not intended …..." Baroness Smith of Newnham - View Speech
"My Lords, the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Beamish, seek to do what amendments that I tabled in Committee also sought to do, albeit rather less elegantly. My amendment on having parliamentary scrutiny for the Armed Forces commissioner was the source of considerable concern to the …..." Baroness Smith of Newnham - View Speech
"My Lords, we are awaiting the strategic defence review and, I believe, a defence industrial strategy. Will national shipbuilding be part of that and if so, when can we expect those documents and some real progress?..." Baroness Smith of Newnham - View Speech
"The Easter truce seemed to be an opportunity for Vladimir Putin and his Government to trawl Hansard and work out which Members of the other place and your Lordships’ House needed to be sanctioned, so I start by declaring my interest as one of the people sanctioned by the Russian …..." Baroness Smith of Newnham - View Speech
"My Lords, the situation in the Baltic states and Poland is rather different from that in the United Kingdom. We need to look at the decisions of those sovereign states that have opted to withdraw from the Ottawa treaty—and, in the case of Lithuania, from the Convention on Cluster Munitions—somewhat …..." Baroness Smith of Newnham - View Speech
"My Lords, the Minister said it is vital that the United Kingdom and our European allies stay in marked support of Ukraine. Does he believe that the United States still gives that vital support to Ukraine? Very often it does not look like that under Donald Trump...." Baroness Smith of Newnham - View Speech
"My Lords, His Majesty’s Government’s commitment to the special transatlantic relationship is laudable, but if from the other side of the Atlantic the relationship is not seen as so important, what are His Majesty’s Government proposing to do to ensure that we in the United Kingdom have the military and …..." Baroness Smith of Newnham - View Speech
"My Lords, it is clearly welcome that the strategy includes defence. What support are His Majesty’s Government planning to give to small and medium-sized enterprises working in dual-use technology? Are His Majesty’s Government thinking about letting contracts in the short to medium term, so that, as we build up our …..." Baroness Smith of Newnham - View Speech