Lord Rogan (UUP)

My Lords, I too congratulate my friend, the noble Baroness, Lady Harris, on securing this extremely timely debate. As we know, we are living in dangerous times. What makes matters worse is the stark reality that they are times for which we, the United Kingdom, are woefully unprepared. This was made clear last summer when His Majesty’s Government published the strategic defence review. At that time, the esteemed noble Lord, Lord Robertson, who oversaw the review, expressed his frustration that government funding was too little and too late to match the ambitious defence overhaul that was—and is—urgently required. He has since expressed even starker views, for which he should be commended. There can be no doubt that years of underfunding under previous Administrations left the current Government with an abominable legacy to deal with. However, what now seems to be lacking is a sense of genuine urgency for putting the country back on its feet militarily. I do not blame the Ministry of Defence for that; instead, the problem seems to lie at the feet of His Majesty’s Treasury. Indeed, the Prime Minister himself essentially conceded that point when appearing before the Liaison Committee in another place. We are many months on from when the defence investment plan was due to be released, yet it seems the Government have no clue as to how they will pay for it. The finger of blame is often pointed at the Chancellor but the Prime Minister is the First Lord of the Treasury: he needs to make that decision. In the 1950s, the UK spent 8% of GDP on defence, 6% on the NHS and 5% on welfare. In 2026, we spend a little over 2% on defence, 8% on the NHS and 12% on welfare. That imbalance is indefensible. But there is some good news, thankfully. Replying to a Written Question from me last month, the Minister confirmed that: “The Ministry of Defence will launch the Northern Ireland Defence Growth Deal in Spring 2026”. That is positive; I hope that the Northern Ireland defence sector will have cause for celebration very soon. I support the Government’s resilience action plan, which focused on UK domestic resilience as a fundamental element of the national security strategy. Given our troubled past, there is no more resilient part of the United Kingdom than Northern Ireland, and I assure your Lordships that we are keen to step up and do our bit to keep the nation safe from external threats.