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Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 09 Mar 2022
Defence Supplementary Estimate 2021-22

"I will briefly give way, and then I will conclude...."
Julian Lewis - View Speech

View all Julian Lewis (Con - New Forest East) contributions to the debate on: Defence Supplementary Estimate 2021-22
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 09 Mar 2022
Defence Supplementary Estimate 2021-22

"I quite agree with both my right hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart) and my hon. Friend.

Bearing in mind your advice, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will conclude with one point about the budget itself. During the period in which I chaired the Defence Committee, we produced two …..."
Julian Lewis - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 09 Mar 2022
Defence Supplementary Estimate 2021-22

"I do agree with that point; using GDP percentages has always been only a very rough and ready guide.

What was absolutely shocking was the way in which, given that even within half a dozen years of the downfall of the Berlin wall—as late as 1993-94—we were still spending 3.1% …..."
Julian Lewis - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 21 Feb 2022
Oral Answers to Questions

"What lessons have our Government drawn from the consequences for Ukraine of its decision in 1994 unilaterally to give up all the nuclear weapons that it had inherited from the Soviet Union in return for assurances on a piece of paper?..."
Julian Lewis - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 21 Feb 2022
Oral Answers to Questions

"T5. We now know that the cold war is back with a vengeance. We regularly spent between 4.5% and 5% of GDP on defence in the closing stages of the cold war. Has the time come to set a higher target than a bare 2%? Surely 3% should be a …..."
Julian Lewis - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 21 Feb 2022
Ukraine

"What will the Government do to try to impress on President Putin that even if he invades the rest of Ukraine without military comeback on behalf of Ukraine, it would be a fatal error for him to think that he could then invade an outlying NATO state—one of the Baltic …..."
Julian Lewis - View Speech

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Written Question
Armed Forces: Mefloquine
Thursday 27th January 2022

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department continues to apply the criteria introduced following the 2016 publication of the Defence Committee report (HC567) calling for restrictions on the prescribing of the antimalarial drug Lariam (Mefloquine) to Service personnel; if he will arrange for a consolidated table to be published of the twice-yearly data, subsequently compiled, showing the (a) number of individuals prescribed Lariam in each six-month period since such data began to be released, (b) percentages of those individuals prescribed Lariam who (i) did and (ii) did not receive face-to-face assessments, prior to the issuing of the prescriptions during each six-month period, and (c) totals of other antimalarials prescribed to Service personnel during each six-month period; whether it is his policy that the use of Lariam on a scale greater than that since 2016 should be permitted in future; and whether he accepts the original recommendation by the Defence Committee that Lariam should be designated as a drug of last resort, to be prescribed to Service personnel only (A) if an individual is unable to tolerate any of the available alternatives; (B) after a face-to-face individual risk assessment; and (C) after he or she has been made aware of the available alternatives and given the choice between such alternatives and Lariam; and whether his Department has an evidential basis for challenging evidence of serious side effects previously caused to some Service personnel when Lariam was widely dispensed within the Armed Forces.

Answered by Leo Docherty

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) revised its malaria prevention policy in response to the Defence Select Committee Inquiry. As a result, it remains the policy that mefloquine only be prescribed to Service personnel by a doctor, after a face-to-face malaria health risk assessment and alternatives to mefloquine have been identified as unsuitable. There are no plans for this policy to change in the future.

The Government publishes official statistics every six months on Mefloquine Prescribing in UK Armed Forces. All future official statistics will include the supplementary table requested.

It is admitted, on the balance of probabilities, that as a prophylactic mefloquine can cause a range of minor to moderate psychiatric symptoms in certain individuals for a limited period of time. The causal relation between mefloquine and severe or long-term symptoms has not been shown. Whether it has caused any symptoms in individual cases will be a matter for expert evidence.

The issue of longer-term sequelae is currently being litigated and the MOD has the support of eminent experts in the fields of psychiatry, neuro-psychiatry, epidemiology, neurotoxicology and psychopharmacology whose evidence is privileged and will be disclosed in due course within the litigation. Their evidence is consistent in its conclusion that there is insufficient evidence to establish a link between taking mefloquine and long-term psychiatric illness or neurological damage.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 17 Jan 2022
Ukraine

"Mr Putin knows that NATO will not start world war three to defend Ukraine, but has he been made aware of precisely what non-military sanctions will follow? For example, are Finland or Sweden likely to proceed with an application to join NATO, as has been suggested?..."
Julian Lewis - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 10 Jan 2022
Oral Answers to Questions

"4. What steps his Department is taking to support the relocation of (a) vulnerable Afghans and (b) British nationals from Afghanistan. ..."
Julian Lewis - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 10 Jan 2022
Oral Answers to Questions

"It is worth noting that the last speech Jack made to the House of Commons was on this very subject of standing by our friends in Afghanistan.

Given the unhealthy closeness of ties between parts of the Pakistani state and the Afghan Taliban, what assurances and assistance will the Minister …..."
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