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Mr. Cann: Exactly. Therefore, even Opposition Members should accept what the review has produced. It has produced two big new carriers; the updating of existing carriers to cover until 2012; the production of the assault ships HMS Ocean, HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion; the ability to place people on shore; and the ability to provide heavy lift to keep them supplied for as
long as we wish. It will give us the ability to project power second only to that of the United States of America in the present-day world. I think that is wonderful, and I cannot understand why Opposition Members cavil at the strategic defence review, which has been supported on a bipartisan basis by our Committee.
Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate): It gives me pleasure to follow my fellow member of the Select Committee on Defence, the hon. Member for Ipswich (Mr. Cann), and to recall that, yesterday, the Secretary of State commented that he regarded our report as admirable.
As the hon. Member for Ipswich said--and as the Chairman of the Committee, the hon. Member for Walsall, South (Mr. George), said yesterday--the report was unanimous. I remind the hon. Member for Ipswich what the Committee Chairman meant by unanimity. To achieve unanimity, it was sufficient to put a nice paragraph at the start and a nice paragraph at the end--but, in the 436 pages in between, put the boot in. I believe that careful reading of our Committee's report will show that it contains very serious criticisms of the strategic defence review. I hope that, if the Secretary of State regards the report as admirable, he will pay careful attention to what it says.
I was especially disturbed by comments made by the hon. and learned Member for North-East Fife (Mr. Campbell) yesterday--and by the Committee Chairman when we took evidence from the Secretary of State after the review--congratulating the Secretary of State on his victory over the Treasury. If that is a victory, I hate to think what a defeat would look like. Under this defence review, £900 million has been taken from the defence budget. In addition, two weeks before the defence review was announced, the Secretary of State for Defence was mugged by the Chancellor when, in a meeting, he conceded an extra percentage point by increasing the efficiency savings target from 2 to 3 per cent. It sounds innocuous enough, but hon. Members should be aware that that amounts to removing £1.5 billion from the defence budget over the four years of the rolling efficiency programme. If I have time, I shall return to the subject of efficiency savings.
In general, however, the Committee welcomed the changes and proposals for the regular force structure, which build on the qualities of jointery and deployability mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member forMid-Sussex (Mr. Soames). I sincerely hope that the commitment to the two aircraft carriers is honoured, and I disagree with my hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury (Mr. Brazier), who cast doubt on the proposal to buy six ro-ro ferries. I believe that that is a very important part of ensuring that we have the ability to deploy our forces overseas. With two landing platform docks, I hope that the Minister will consider producing a second helicopter carrier, because it would give the future force of the Navy far greater sustainability to have two of each major platform.
There are, however, problems in the Navy. There was overstretch in the frigate and destroyer force with 35 frigates and destroyers; it escapes me how the problem of overstretch has diminished with 32. Despite the evidence that the Committee considered, I remain to be convinced that the Navy will not suffer greater overstretch and pressure on its people as a result of the cuts that it has suffered. We should not ignore the grievous cut to defence capability in the removal of two further nuclear-powered fleet submarines from the naval order of battle. They are very significant weapons platforms, and the reduction of 20 per cent.--from 12 to 10--is much to be regretted.
I shall talk for a short time about the Army, and especially about the proposals for the Royal Armoured Corps, of which I have some little experience. In his evidence to the Committee, the Chief of the General Staff said that the unsquaring of the brigades in Germany was the most difficult decision that he had had to take. We must watch carefully to ensure that the benefits that will come from that process through the training cycle--which my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Sussex mentioned--are realised, and that their readiness is sustained.
The lesson was learned that type 38 small armoured regiments were not sustainable as units, did not work well and were militarily and administratively unviable. Therefore, I especially welcome the return to six type 58 tank regiments. As we have learnt all those lessons in armoured regiments, the reason escapes me for our failure to translate those lessons with regard to armoured reconnaissance. I served as an armoured reconnaissance officer for more than 11 years. Hardly surprisingly, armoured reconnaissance has proved ideal for the operations in which our forces are deployed. It is light. It is armoured. It has sufficient firepower to make a difference in almost any operation in which it is likely to be deployed now. It also has the vital asset of being able to gather information on the ground wherever it goes. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that by June my regiment, the Light Dragoons, will have supported 11 squadron tours in Bosnia since 1992. I beg the Minister to listen to some of the consequences of that.
The regiment has an establishment of about 400. In the past four years, with some soldiers having completed five tours in Bosnia--most of the soldiers who have been in the regiment all of that time will have completed at least three--there have been 82 divorces in my regiment. Given the number of soldiers who are not married, that figure is staggering. That is the impact of not having enough armoured reconnaissance to deploy on such operations.
I was distressed to learn that the apparent good news that there would be four armoured reconnaissance regiments turned out to mean that, instead of three armoured reconnaissance regiments of four squadrons, we would have four armoured reconnaissance regiments of three squadrons, which leaves the operational output of the armoured reconnaissance squadrons unchanged at 12. I hope that the Minister will reconsider. That arm has fabulous utility for today's operations.
The Select Committee heard about the Royal Air Force's problems of overstretch when we went to visit RAF Bruggen. Supporting operational deployments in the Gulf and in Turkey has taken its toll on the fighting squadrons of the RAF, which must constantly roll pilots through a four-month deployment programme to the Gulf. Given the length of time that we will probably have to be
deployed in the Gulf, it may be time for the Minister to consider permanent deployment--two-year tours--for pilots and support staff in the Gulf on accompanied tours, as we did in the 1950s and 1960s when we had a permanent presence in the Gulf. That would address many of the problems of instability and overstretch that the RAF is suffering.
On the reserve forces, the Government are making a strategic, political and administrative mistake in their proposals for the Territorial Army. The regular forces are focused on the day-to-day task of maintaining global stability. We are entering a period of strategic uncertainty. If we recall that 16 years ago, we had just recovered the Falkland Islands, it is clear that we can have no idea what the world will look like 16 years from now. By 2013, if the Government carry out their proposals for the TA, there will be 100,000 fewer mobilisable men and women who have military experience for us to call on. Given the size of the regular forces, it is a substantial cut to the strategic capability of the United Kingdom.
The hon. Member for Paisley, South (Mr. Alexander) spoke yesterday about the cut to the engineer squadron in his constituency. In my constituency, Reigate, the second troop of 127 field squadron of the Royal Engineers is also, I understand, scheduled to be lost--one of five engineer regiments, which are enormously useful for civilian and military work and which are to be lost from the order of battle of the Territorial Army.
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