(Barnsley Central) (Lab): I echo the concerns
expressed by the Chair of the Defence Committee, the right hon.
Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), about the state of our
land forces. It is vital that this is addressed in the context of
the refresh of the integrated review. May I also echo the
sentiment expressed by the Chair of the Intelligence and Security
Committee, the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir ), about the resourcing of all
of this? Although providing this capability is the right thing to
do, it will come at some cost and with some undermining of our
defence capability. Will the Minister reiterate the point that I
think he made just a moment ago that the costs will fall on the
Treasury, and that the cost of deploying this additional
capability will not fall on an already stretched MOD budget?
The Minister for Defence Procurement (): May I underscore that
point and add that, as part of the support to the Ukrainians in
respect of Challenger 2 tanks, we provide them with ammunition,
spares and the technical support that I mentioned a few moments
ago? We also want to support them to provide a lot of the spares
themselves in the fullness of time—whether by using 3d
printing or whatever it is—so that they can become
self-sufficient. That is a very important part of sustaining this
effort. As far as financial support is concerned, it was £2.3
billion last year and a similar sum this year. That is an
important part of the support that we can provide, and it goes
together with humanitarian support.
