Luke Pollard MP: speeches

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Speeches

8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Base · Hansard source
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I am very happy to say that we are seeking growth in defence businesses in every part of the United Kingdom. When we launch the defence industrial strategy very shortly, I hope the hon. Gentleman will be able to see one of the new defence growth zones in Northern Ireland providing opportunities for young people to start new good careers in defence. Also, companies that might not think of themselves as defence companies at the moment will be able not just to sell to UK armed forces, but to take export opportunities selling to our allies around the world.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Base · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for his question and for championing the BAE site in Rochester. We want more defence companies to invest more in skills. In the defence industrial strategy we are publishing today, we will not only make further investments in defence technical education colleges—with £182 million to deliver that—but provide additional support for school-based activities and university partnerships. I would be very happy to come to Rochester to see for myself the amazing work of the apprentices.
8 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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There is a real opportunity to grow further the 2,000 directly supported defence jobs in the north-east. I am happy to speak to my hon. Friend further about that. May I encourage him to stay for the defence industrial strategy statement? He will hear about the further investment and opportunity that the Government hope to provide to every nation and region in the UK.
8 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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There is real expertise in, and opportunities for, our shipyards nationwide—both those that support Royal Navy military vessels, and those that spend much of their time working on Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels, which are the backbone of the Royal Navy fleet. There is a real opportunity in not just shipbuilding but ship repair. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss those opportunities. Given that the Labour conference will soon take place in Liverpool, perhaps I can pop over and see her.
8 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The Type 26 deal with Norway shows what is possible when we have a determined export campaign. We are looking at working with a number of our European allies, and allies further afield, on export deals, not just for our larger platforms, such as warships, but missiles, electronic systems and a whole range of defence equipment, to create more jobs here in Britain. I am happy to discuss that further with my hon. Friend.
8 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is simply prolific in the areas in which she is seeking to improve defence, and I would be very happy to meet her to discuss this further. There will be an announcement on skills in the defence industrial strategy that is coming out this afternoon. There is a real opportunity to expand this work, not just in defence technical education colleges, but in institutions nationwide.
8 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The hon. Gentleman is a defence expert, so he knows well that the Type 26s replace the anti-submarine warfare Type 23s in Devonport, where they will be based. He also knows that we have quick-reaction fighters at Lossiemouth and our Royal Navy submarine force based at Faslane. We have huge investment across Scotland, and we will do even more, but while the Government in Holyrood, which he backs, has dithered on defence jobs, this Government have delivered extra defence jobs for Scotland, and will continue to do that.
8 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for his question and thank the workers on the Clyde for their professionalism. It made the collective ministerial effort across Government much easier knowing that we have professional, dedicated and excellent workers on the Clyde who are able to build the Type 26 frigate, and on the opposite side of Scotland, supporting the workers at Rosyth, to build the Type 31 frigate, too. There is a huge future on either side of Scotland for British shipbuilding, and hopefully more export orders as well.
8 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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I am happy to meet the hon. Member to discuss the opportunities to use the defence estate to contribute to growth in every part of the country, including hers.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Sector: Skills · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is a real champion of his constituents who work at RAF Wyton, and all those who could work there through the expanded opportunities, which I have spoken to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) about. I am glad that there is cross-party support for the investment that this Government could make. There is a real opportunity to use defence as an engine for growth, creating more opportunities for our young people in particular. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Sam Carling) and the hon. Member for Huntingdon to discuss how we can further develop the opportunity at hand, in a spirit of cross-party consensus.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Sector: Skills · Hansard source
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This Government’s approach is to create jobs and opportunity through the increasing defence budget in every part of the United Kingdom, including Scotland. The Norway frigate deal highlights how a UK Government selling our wares and our expertise on the global stage can provide additional jobs, with 4,000 jobs from that deal across the UK, including 2,000 in Scotland. While the SNP Government have been dithering on defence, this Labour Government have been delivering.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Sector: Skills · Hansard source
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As I will shortly outline to the House, as part of the launch of the defence industrial strategy, this Government will set out an ambitious skills package that will grow, retain and develop the well-paid, high-skilled workforce that the UK requires to boost jobs and make defence an engine for growth in every nation and region of the country.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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First, I thank my hon. Friend for the work he has been doing on how we open up finance to small businesses in particular and how we deal with some of the policies that restrict access to finance for those firms that work in defence. He is absolutely right that internationally we are seeing more of those nations that sometimes oppose our values come together, but we need to make sure we are innovating with our finance and that SMEs have access to capital. That is one reason why we are seeking to create a more predictable pipeline of acquisitions that enables businesses, especially small businesses, to borrow to invest.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for his advocacy for his community. There are certainly opportunities in every part of the country, including on Teesside, for defence companies and for companies that are not selling into defence currently, but which have an opportunity to do so. The £400 million investment in UK Defence Innovation is designed to go after the most innovative and disruptive technologies. Primes have a good role in this, but so do SMEs. I encourage all businesses to lean into that opportunity, and to really go after the increased funding and the export and contractual opportunities that that will provide.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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I thank the hon. Member, and I agree with him. I am a big fan of a data-led dashboard, and the Ministry of Defence will be producing those, because when it comes to procurement we need a greater data-led approach and a focus on prioritisation. We will be going after areas that have fallen behind, which I am afraid the last Government failed to do. That is our new approach. I have already met the Chair of the Committee, and I look forward to meeting him further to discuss how we can take on board the recommendations to make sure we get this system right.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and for championing novel technologies. The £400 million that we have allocated to UK Defence Innovation is intended to champion those disruptive high-end technologies, but we have also been clear that we want to spend 10% of our equipment budget on those advanced pieces of technology. We also need to support the wider R&D ecosystem that supports those technologies, which is why we also make announcements in the strategy about supporting our university and research partnerships that deliver them. Certainly, with US projects relying in many cases on British technology, there is a really strong ecosystem for learning the lessons from Ukraine and maintaining a technological edge. There are real opportunities for UK businesses to do more, and the more links we have with our US friends on those advanced technologies and R&D, the better.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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We are proud that the growth deals will be in every single part of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. The precise location of those in the devolved Administrations will be set following discussions with those devolved Administrations, including in conjunction with those in Northern Ireland. We are absolutely clear that there is a growth opportunity to provide new, well-paid and good jobs to people there. That is why we will work with partners in Northern Ireland to find the right location and to invest in the skills that the industry there needs.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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There is no better champion than the hon. Gentleman; I have met him a number of times when he has spoken about his constituency. I agree with him that there is real opportunity in Northern Ireland for defence investment, and I look forward to the continued discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive, as well as with local communities, Members of Parliament and councils, to make sure we find the right locations for the investment and that Northern Ireland gets the defence growth deal we have announced today—and gets it soon.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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On a day when the hon. Lady could be celebrating the work of SMEs in her constituency and talking up British growth, she is here again with a complaint. There is a clear process with the SDR, which we followed, on the predication of the previous Administration. We have followed a clear plan today to brief the Opposition and to make sure that it is clear that we are backing British businesses. I wish she had taken the opportunity to do so as well.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising the Rolls-Royce skills work, because Derby is one of the best-in-class examples in this area. That company can invest in its people because of the long-term security that this Government have provided with the multibillion-pound commitment to buy new nuclear reactors from Derby for our nuclear submarines. Our skills investment is not just about the primes investing in skills for that single business; it is about the skills ecosystem, so we must invest for all the suppliers and SMEs as well. There is no point in primes having full apprenticeships if the suppliers they buy from, which are essential to the end product, do not have enough skills. That is precisely why skills are at the very heart of the defence industrial strategy we have announced today. Exemplary examples like Rolls-Royce are superb in delivering those skills.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his customarily thoughtful question. He will know of our intention to build six new munitions factories, including a new energetics factory, precisely because there is a shortage and there are concerns about supply and resilience. He will also know that we are seeking to onshore a number of capabilities. The defence industrial strategy deals with a number of those capabilities, especially around national security, which we want to see enhance our sovereign capability. I encourage him to read that part of the strategy shortly.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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I thank the hon. Member for welcoming the strategy—it is good to see cross-party support for our defence industry. I also welcome her words about the support that we provide to Ukraine. A lesson that we are learning from the war in Ukraine is that we can procure faster, better and more effectively using increased freedoms. That is precisely the lesson from our work supporting our Ukrainian friends that we are seeking to apply in order to support UK armed forces. Negotiations on UK participation in SAFE are led jointly by the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence. We will seek to continue those conversations. There needs to be provision of value for money for the British taxpayer and opportunities for British businesses, and I am confident that the discussions will be productive. The SME office that we are seeking to create is one way of helping those small businesses that feel that they have an innovative project for defence, but struggle with the labyrinthine bureaucracy and confusion about who to go to. Having a one-stop shop that enables people to access those contracts and navigate the process will be a real boost for SMEs selling their products into the Ministry of Defence. The hon. Member is right about the need for spiral development, but in reducing the contracting times, we need to be alive to the fact that the technologies that we procure need to be spiral developed at pace, so that we do not have a legacy system that then gets spiral development many years later. On the hon. Member’s two final questions, the Type 26 deal with Norway is a superb boost for shipbuilding on the Clyde. Discussions with our Norwegian friends have already started about the build slots, but the Royal Navy will receive our Type 26 frigates in the 2030s as planned. No decisions have been made about the recruitment contract that she mentioned. The intention is to make a decision in February 2026, but I have heard what she said in relation to that.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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That is precisely why we are seeking more engagement on defence with the devolved Administrations. Defence is a reserved matter, but skills are devolved, so we need to form a new partnership between the different Governments across the United Kingdom, including in Wales. The skills around RAF Valley are really very impressive, and there is huge opportunity for growth. If we get this right, we will create more good, well-paid jobs in the hon. Lady’s constituency and across Wales—an opportunity that this Government are going to seize with both hands.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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Let me be very clear: there are growth opportunities in every nation and region of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. We have today announced a defence growth deal for Northern Ireland, which builds on the incredible skills that we already see in defence companies in Northern Ireland. This Government were very proud to announce the £1.6 billion contract for the lightweight multirole missile, which will be built in Northern Ireland. It will be used to shoot down Russian drones attacking our allies in Ukraine, which is precisely how we can make defence an engine of growth as well as support our security objectives. The workers in Northern Ireland should be very proud of the work they are doing; I certainly am.
8 Sept 2025 · Defence Industrial Strategy · Hansard source
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As a Plymouth MP, I know that the success of the defence industry in Plymouth is about what happens not just in the PL postcode, but in the wider regional ecosystem. Torbay, especially with its marine technology, has an awful lot to offer. An important part of how we power growth is ensuring that the Plymouth growth deal and, indeed, all the growth deals that we have announced today benefit the wider region, and not just the particular locations. The increase in skills and the focus on buying British from British-based firms will help businesses right across the country, including in the hon. Member’s constituency.

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