"My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that, if we get defence policy wrong and there is a war, welfare and the National Health Service will count for nothing?..." Lord West of Spithead - View Speech
"Does my noble friend the Minister agree that we have slightly lost sight of why youngsters want to join the military? I do not believe youngsters have changed that much and I think Capita got it wrong in spades. The sorts of reasons one joined were for action, danger, excitement, …..." Lord West of Spithead - View Speech
"My Lords, previously I said, slightly tongue in cheek, that going for the best is often a problem in terms of protection. There is a real risk of going for more and more to protect us, but in the final analysis we cannot totally protect everyone. We talk about looking …..." Lord West of Spithead - View Speech
"I thank my noble friend the Minister for his reply, although my question has been rather shredded of various elements by the previous debate. It is worth remembering that 80 years ago as we speak, the British Pacific fleet was leaving the waters around Okinawa, heading towards the Japanese homeland. …..." Lord West of Spithead - View Speech
"To ask His Majesty’s Government whether the recently announced procurement of twelve F35A jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons will affect the planned procurement of F35B jets...." Lord West of Spithead - View Speech
"My Lords, I have to congratulate the Government on the way they have been handling the current situation. I fought in a number of wars, and there is nothing like fighting in a war to make you realise that you do not want one. The actions we are taking I …..." Lord West of Spithead - View Speech
"My Lords, I am a simple sailor, but my thoughts are that, when they start work deep in the basement, would they please not use Navy or Army divers to do the work there but ensure that the money is paid by someone else?..." Lord West of Spithead - View Speech
"My Lords, I ask my noble friend the Minister: does the Treasury now understand that all this military equipment requires a drumbeat of orders? For example, if you want 30 frigates and they have 30-year life, one frigate has to roll off the production line every single year, year after …..." Lord West of Spithead - View Speech
"My Lords, if I could correct my noble friend, because she is probably not aware of it, in 2008 there was an attempt by eight al-Qaeda operatives to poison north London water supplies. I am pleased to say that our agencies worked brilliantly to stop it happening. As a result, …..." Lord West of Spithead - View Speech