Luke Pollard

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his questions. It is hard, as he and the House will appreciate, for me to comment on ongoing investigations. However, in relation to his question about the arrest, the police have confirmed that a member of the US army has been arrested under sections 1 and 3 of the National Security Act 2023 for assisting a foreign intelligence service, specifically relating to Russia. This is a live investigation, and I want to allow the police the time and space to carry it out without additional commentary. I hope that he and the House will appreciate that. On US assets, the movement and positioning of US military aircraft is an operational matter for the United States. It has said that aircraft routinely rotate between locations for training and operational requirements. I will not speculate further, for reasons of operational security, as I hope the House will understand. Finally, the right hon. Gentleman will appreciate that this is a Government who are increasing defence spending, after his party cut defence spending when in power. We are legislating for more powers to defend our nation in the Armed Forces Bill, and we are engaging across Government and with stakeholders in preparation for the defence readiness Bill because we want to get it right. I appreciate that he wants to make partisan points about this, but we are trying our best to update legislation with the Armed Forces Bill and we will continue to do so with the defence readiness Bill later in this Parliament. We will continue to ensure that our nation is prepared to meet the threats we face in a more difficult time.