Sir Alec Shelbrooke

Sir Alec Shelbrooke

Conservative — Wetherby and Easingwold

Speaking in the House of Commons on 27 January 2025

Debate

Fiscal Policy: Defence Spending

Contribution

I am going to surprise the Minister and say that I think he is right that the armed forces were not big enough when we left Government, and that every Chancellor since the end of the cold war slashed spending because it was the easy thing to do. Once the Ukraine war started, because of Russia’s illegal invasion, we put tens of billions of pounds into the response, so my question to the Minister is simple: if the strategic defence review suggests that we have to spend more money, are we going to spend that money or will it be directed to ensure that the amount does not rise above 2.5%?

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