Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Prinsley Excerpts

Monday 19th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I wholeheartedly endorse the comments made by the Chief of the General Staff, which were widely reported over the weekend. Our armed forces chiefs are some of the most credible message carriers, and the ones the public will trust most. That is not to cast aspersions on Members across the House, but given that our popularity as politicians sits somewhere beneath traffic wardens and estate agents, we should lean in to—[Interruption.] I am not sure the Liberal Democrats want to go there this week.

Let me take seriously the hon. Gentleman’s point about the need to work together on a cross-party basis. I am proud that on issues like Ukraine we speak with one voice and there is total unity, and there is enormous consensus across the House about the nature of the threat we face, the need to invest more, and the type of capabilities we need. That will be reassuring to both the public and our allies, and I would be delighted to work together in that spirit.

[Dr Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) (Lab)]

Many United States servicemen from RAF Lakenheath live off base in my constituency. As we all know, lately the United States’ bombers were removed from RAF Fairford. What more can every citizen do to increase national resilience, so as to protect and support the brave United States servicemen and servicewomen who are in our country at a time of increased threat from Russia?

[Wes Streeting]

I thank my hon. Friend for the work that he does in this House, as reflected in his question, to champion the great service that the United States’ personnel give to our collective security. Their presence here in the United Kingdom makes us safer and they are always welcome. The current US force posture at RAF Fairford is what we would expect to see outside of major combat operations. However, given the threat to RAF Fairford—respecting that there is still an ongoing investigation, I will be limited in what I say—we need to take base security seriously, and off-base support for UK and US personnel and those of our allies equally seriously. We have committed half a billion pounds of additional investment, and strengthened security technology and infrastructure across military sites. The challenges that we face here in the UK are challenges that are facing all our allies, and one issue that I discussed with Secretary Hegseth last week was about what more we could do together to strengthen our collective security across the alliance.