Defence in the High North

Lincoln Jopp Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dhesi]

I thank my hon. Friend, a fellow member of the Defence Committee, for her strong and positive contributions to this report, and her other work. Indeed, it was a pleasure to visit Barrow-in-Furness and to see some of those submarine capabilities. She is right: as a nation, we need to invest at pace because of the lack of availability of those submarines, and that is portrayed strongly in our report.

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

I thank the Chair of the Defence Committee for his remarks, and I very much enjoyed going with him on our various visits to make this report. Did he feel, as I did, slightly awkward when we were visiting the Nordic states? We know what we are spending on defence. We know that Norway is spending 3.35% of GDP, Denmark 3.5%, Sweden 2.8% and reaching 3.5% by 2028, and Finland 2.85% and reaching 3.3% by 2032, yet we have not yet committed to the Committee’s preferred 3% by the end of this Parliament. That created a certain unease. Does the hon. Gentleman remember that when we visited Norway, we were told by its Chief of Defence that every time the Prime Minister of Norway makes a speech, he mentions the threat from Russia? Does he agree that we must advance the so-called national conversation if we are to take the British public with us, and explain the threat to them, as well as the capability and investment that we need to counter it?

[Mr Dhesi]

I thank the hon. Gentleman, a fellow member of the Defence Committee. I very much enjoyed going with him on various visits to increase our knowledge and understanding of what is happening out there, and to get that perspective from our allies. He rightly highlights the significant increases in defence spending among our European allies, which is why some of us have been vocal in our advocacy for the position that the UK must not be left behind, and that we need to reach defence spending of 3% of GDP by the end of this Parliament. Indeed, as Committee members will be more than aware, we made a joint statement to ensure that the Government focus their attention on that issue. I could not agree more with the hon. Gentleman.