Nick Smith
Main Page: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)Department Debates - View all Nick Smith's debates with the Ministry of Defence
(12 years, 10 months ago)
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Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
Does the Minister recognise that new threats to the UK following the Arab spring make the national security strategy out of date? Will he update the strategy in the light of those recent events?
Nick Harvey
The national security strategy anticipated a variety of threats from different parts of the globe throughout its 10-year time frame. It proposed that we should have flexible and adaptable forces that are capable of responding to different scenarios in different ways at different times. The momentum of activity following the uprisings in north Africa and the middle east has called us into action, but that action has so far shown to be perfectly manageable within the arrangement that the strategic defence and security review laid down. No reason has been provided at this stage for anybody to contemplate a different arrangement.