Scott Arthur
Main Page: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)Department Debates - View all Scott Arthur's debates with the Ministry of Defence
(1 day, 10 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
John Healey
The hon. Gentleman will note that we have only the reports from the Iranian regime about the strike. He will be aware that the US is looking into this at present.
Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)
I want to start by paying tribute to Edinburgh’s Iranian community. Despite being concerned about their families in Iran, they have taken time in the past week to host public events, which shared details of Iran’s rich culture and the barbaric nature of its regime.
I want to ask a question about HMS Dragon. The maths are quite clear: the ship cost £1 billion, but the Conservatives cut the defence budget by £14 billion. Surely, if they wanted to see more destroyers in the Mediterranean, they should have built the things.
John Healey
My hon. Friend is right to pay tribute to the Iranian community in his home city of Edinburgh; I echo his comments. He is also right, of course, that in 14 years the Conservatives did not commission a single new destroyer. We have HMS Dragon, which is set to sail this week—in the next couple of days—only because it was commissioned by the previous Labour Government.