CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

DEFENCE – CONTINUOUS AT-SEA DETERRENCE - 14 May 2012

DEFENCE – CONTINUOUS AT-SEA DETERRENCE - 14 May 2012

Dr Julian Lewis: Will the balanced budget enable the previously agreed total of 25 frigates and destroyers to be maintained in the future, and will it allow the future Trident successor fleet to mount continuous at-sea deterrence, as personally favoured repeatedly by the Prime Minister in this House?

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Philip Hammond): The answer to the second question is yes, the funding for the successor submarine is based on continuous at-sea deterrence. I am not sure about the 25 figure; the figure in the SDSR is 19 frigates and destroyers.]