Wes Streeting

Wes Streeting

Labour — Ilford North

Speaking in the House of Commons on 19 October 2026

Debate

Workforce Skills

Contribution

First, training and exercises are taking place for the remainder of this year. What I can tell the hon. Gentleman is that when I arrived at the Ministry of Defence, there was an in-year overspend that would have seen us over-committed by the end of the year. As I did at the Department of Health and Social Care, I have sent a very strong message, very early on, and I make absolutely no apology for that. Although this Government are delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war, I expect my Department and our armed forces to live within their means. I think that message has been received loud and clear and will help me to tackle the historical problems that we have had at the Ministry of Defence: routine overspending, and challenges with value for money and productivity. [Interruption.] If Conservative Members want to heckle on those points, they should explain why they under-invested in defence for more than a decade.

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