Lord Stevens of Ludgate – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stevens of Ludgate on 2016-05-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Prime Minister’s comments regarding the stability of peace in Europe if the UK leaves the EU, what steps they have taken to strengthen the armed forces.

Earl Howe

The Government believes that the UK should remain in a reformed EU. As the Prime Minister has said, our EU membership helps keep the UK safer and stronger. We have the largest defence budget in the EU and the second largest in NATO. In addition, we have committed to spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence over the course of this Parliament, and the Ministry of Defence’s budget will rise by 0.5 per cent above inflation every year to 2020-21. We are maintaining the size of the Army, and we are increasing the size of the Royal Navy, the RAF and the reserves.