In a robust exchange in the House of Commons, Defence Secretary John Healey reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to addressing evolving threats from Russia, particularly in the high north, as part of the ongoing Strategic Defence Review (SDR).
Graeme Downie MP (Labour – Dunfermline and Dollar) praised the Defence Secretary for his decisive stance against Russian aggression, stating, “This aggression will not be tolerated.”
He pointed to specific areas of concern, including quick reaction alert, subsea cables, and the defence of the high north, and asked how the SDR would account for these evolving challenges.
In response, the Defence Secretary highlighted the growing strategic importance of the high north, a region increasingly contested due to climate change and the opening of new shipping routes. “The high north will become strategically much more essential. Degrees of conflict and contest are likely to grow there,” Mr. Healey stated.
He assured the House that these concerns are central to the SDR, adding, “If [Mr. Downie] looks at the terms of reference of the strategic defence review, and the work of the review and challenge groups… he will see that the concerns that he raises are central to the SDR’s work.”
Mr. Healey spoke on the importance of learning from recent conflicts and incidents, such as the war in Ukraine and the damage to a Finnish ship in the Baltic Sea, to inform the UK’s strategic priorities.
He assured MPs that the SDR would reflect the lessons of these events, stating, “When it is published, I am sure that [Mr. Downie] will find evidence that the caution he gives to the House is taken very seriously by the Government.”
We have no resources after cuts, cuts, cuts. Are these people for real?
We are so committed to the high north that we cut the only land forces specifically trained to be used in that theatre and then reduce our dedicated shipping to support these Ops. Our political leaders are living in a parallel universe.
The defence secretary needs to identify why the treasury needs to give him billions of pounds each year. It is important that we can defend the high north area, he has said so and we need to see the treasury acknowledging that and supplying the required funds to do so.
Given the chances that we will see an ice free artic each September there is no practicable limit to having to operate right up to the north pole.
Perhaps we ought to be looking at type 83 having ice breaker rated hulls and large fuel capacity tlso as to be able to operate across the whole of the arctic.