Mike Martin
Main Page: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)Department Debates - View all Mike Martin's debates with the Ministry of Defence
(1 day, 8 hours ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker
Order. Sir Julian Lewis, I have never seen you behave so badly.
Mike Martin (Tunbridge Wells) (LD)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech, is he not? The egg is now on the other face, and Conservative Members are very excited. Which of the Tory cuts does my hon. Friend think was the most damaging—was it the cuts to the frigates, the destroyers, the minesweepers or the troops?
James MacCleary
It is astonishing, Madam Deputy Speaker. You would not think that they had been in majority government for 10 years since the coalition. All the crimes that have been committed in history were committed by a minority partner in a coalition more than a decade ago. I make speeches at universities where some of the students were not even born when these things happened. It is extraordinary. We need a serious plan to reverse the damage.
Mike Martin
I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. I would just like to draw—[Interruption.] Do Conservative Members want to hear this?
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
Order! We need less noise in the Chamber.
Mike Martin
On an Opposition day, one would expect His Majesty’s loyal Opposition to put together a cohesive critique of Government defence policy. Instead, what we have is a shopping list—a Christmas tree—that is effectively a list of the pet projects of various members of the Conservative party.
James MacCleary
We welcomed the Government’s efforts to try to reverse that damage last year, with their commitment to increase defence spending to 2.6% of GDP. But the Government’s persistent failure to publish the defence investment plan is inexcusable Promised last summer, the plan was meant to turn the strategic defence review from warm words into hard action. We have been waiting for almost a year. All the time, Ministers have been working flat out, we are told, which must be exhausting. That delay matters. At the very moment Europe is rearming, Britain is hesitating, and hesitation sends signals—signals to our armed forces, signals to industry, signals to our allies and signals to our adversaries.