Scottish Affairs Committee — hearing of 24 June 2026: transcript & video

00:05 - 00:50

Speaker 5

And welcome to this morning's meeting, which is in support of an inquiry into securing Scotland's future defense skills and jobs. And welcome to Minister Luke Pollard, to Brigadier Muddiman, and to Mr. Taylor. We'll just get straight onto the questions if that's okay with all of you. We took evidence from Lord Robertson a couple of weeks ago, and he was very clear when he spoke to us that the threat to the UK is no longer a theoretical threat. So in light of that commentary and the commentary that we've heard in recent weeks, what reassurances can you give that the sort of level of spending set out in the defense investment plan will be sufficient?

00:50 - 02:47

Speaker 1

Thank you, Chair. And it's good to see you all today and for the interest that you're taking into defense in Scotland. The threat that we are facing is real and it is growing. And the Strategic Defense Review that Lord Robertson helped co-author with the other SDR leads sets that out very clearly. We've responded to that by adopting all 62 recommendations.

And so his strategic assessment and the one that the department has are aligned in that respect. The defense investment plan is what we will spend over the next 10 years on the capabilities to implement the Strategic Defense Review. And broadly, if you've read the Strategic Defense Review, the defense investment plan will be very familiar in terms of the trends that we are following: retiring old equipment, bringing new equipment on, a focus on autonomy and learning the lessons from Ukraine, so more drones, more industrial capability to deliver drones as an example, and more investment in innovation and high-end operations. For the first time, the DIP looks at not just equipment, but also people and estates and enablers. So it's broadly the whole defense budget rather than just a subsection of it.

Now, the two debates that are taking place at the moment seem to be one on the DIP document itself, that's what capabilities, and I think more time spent on that side of the debate is a good one. So whatever the level of defense spending we have, the DIP is designed to be a scalable strategy informed by the military logic, the military strategies, our commitments to NATO, but also the projected increase in defense spending. The second part of that debate is how much should we spend on defense. And as a defense minister who stayed to help complete the DIP when two of my colleagues resigned, I'm very clear: would I like more defense spending? Yes, I would.

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