Oral Answers to Questions

Joshua Reynolds Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

I have huge respect for the Chair of the Select Committee. He will have heard my words the other day on the importance of ensuring that defence is the No. 1 spending priority at the next spending review. That is the moment at which we will need to set out a clear trajectory to honouring our commitment to spending 3.5% of GDP by 2035. I know that he will also understand the leading role that the United Kingdom plays in NATO. Our allies expect us to lead and to step up, and that is what we will do.

[Mr Joshua Reynolds (Maidenhead) (LD)]

Does the Secretary of State accept that long delays in publishing the defence investment plan and the instability at the top of his Department have sapped confidence from the industry and our allies, at the very moment when the Russian threat demands more certainty from us?

[Dan Jarvis]

With great respect to the hon. Gentleman, what I accept is that in two and a half weeks, we sorted the defence investment plan. That is a good base to build on. That is £15 billion of additional resource, which sits alongside a commitment to spend £298 billion over the next four years. Those are the kind of numbers that the Conservatives could only dream of.

Oral Answers to Questions

Joshua Reynolds Excerpts

Monday 24th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Maria Eagle]

I very much agree with my hon. Friend. Of course, there are skills shortages across much of manufacturing, not only in defence, so there is certainly going to be an issue. I can tell him that the apprentices I have met in the defence industry tend to smile the whole time. They are getting extremely good training for lifelong excellent jobs, so I am absolutely certain that we can get that across to young people and ensure that defence gets its fair share of the skilled people that we need.

[Mr Joshua Reynolds (Maidenhead) (LD)]

T5. With the UK frozen out of the EU rearmament scheme while defence contractors and security firms in Albania, Norway and South Korea stand to benefit, what estimates has the Secretary of State made of the potential loss of economic activity in the UK as a result?

[John Healey]

The strongest argument for saying that there needs to be UK collaboration and co-operation with the EU and across Europe is that some of our best capabilities, from the Typhoon and the Meteor to Storm Shadow, have been developed through multinational efforts including the UK. It is that sort of collaboration that we want to secure for the future, and the EU White Paper gives us a basis for starting to negotiate that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Joshua Reynolds Excerpts

Monday 14th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for the Armed Forces (Luke Pollard)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend—she and I have campaigned on many similar issues for quite some time. I would like to make it clear that no licences to trail hunt on Ministry of Defence land have been granted for the 2024-25 hunting season. The Department is considering its position alongside other Government Departments, and we hope to have an update soon, but I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend in the meantime.

[Mr Joshua Reynolds (Maidenhead) (LD)]

T3. Many members of the armed forces in my constituency are living in sub-par MOD housing that is cold, damp and mould-ridden. How is the Minister ensuring that all MOD properties are fit to live in?

[Al Carns]

I have been utterly shocked by the state of parts of the housing estate that we have inherited. Over the last 14 years, the Government of the time failed to decisively close with this issue, instead kicking the can down the road or continually topping up the leaking bucket. We have examples of families living in accommodation with no running water, with mould and with pest infestations; there were 53,000 complaints between 2018 and 2023. Having lived in some of that accommodation, I can tell the House that it is unacceptable. Our armed forces protect the freedoms we enjoy, and this Government will take action—including a medium to long-term review—to get after the housing and create a new armed forces commissioner to improve service life.