L

Lord Coaker (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 26 March 2025

Debate

Future Defence Capability

Contribution

As for the serious point—although that was serious—that my noble friend makes, of course there are short-term efforts that we need to make. In terms of service personnel, we have made significant changes already with respect to pay, childcare and recruitment and retention, so we are trying to deal with some immediate personnel challenges and put those right. Investment is something that sometimes takes a little bit longer, but my noble friend might have also recognised in the Chancellor’s speech a fund that will be made available to look at how new and other industrial technologies can be used to invest in a way that speeds up delivery from industry to the front line. That is a challenge for all of us. Ukraine has shown that, and at the end of the day, we will have to learn from it but do it quickly.

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