Strategic Defence Review: Funding

Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court Excerpts

Thursday 16th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

On the noble Lord’s main point about the national conversations, as I have said to him and in this House on a number of occasions, that national conversation needs to begin as soon as possible, and plans are under way with respect to that. It is essential that it happens: we need to ensure that the British public understand the very real change in circumstances they now face compared with just a few years ago.

[Lord Macpherson of Earl’s Court (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that the effectiveness of expenditure is as important as the level of expenditure? Can he tell the House what the MoD is doing to improve the efficiency of defence spending?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

As the noble Lord will know, there has been a defence reform programme, which has led to the establishment of a national armaments directorate and a new national armaments director. Certainly, at the top of his agenda is ensuring more effective procurement and better value for money—all the sorts of things that you would assume are essential. But it is not only effective procurement; the other challenge for us all as a nation, and indeed our friends and allies, is what appropriate equipment to buy for the changed nature of warfare. The lesson from Ukraine is clearly that it is air defence, new technology and drones. It is about how we ensure a balance between what you might call traditional capability, which of course is still essential, and the new technologies that are emerging. That is also a challenge, as well as the nature of the procurement itself.