YouSaid · the spoken record
John Healey
We hold 61 passages that may be John Healey’s. We do not publish them until we can confirm who spoke. See the correction.
On the record 2004–2026
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“The shadow Defence Secretary asks about the defence investment plan. We are working flat out to produce that. He asks about defence spending. He cut it; we invested in defence. We have seen the greatest increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war. This year alone, we are spending £62 billion on defence, which is £8 billion more than the last year of the Conservative Government. I am really disappointed, and our forces will be disappointed, that the shadow Defence Secretary did not stand up and offer an apology for what his leader said on Friday. His leader’s claim that British forces in the middle east are “just hanging around” is totally wrong and deeply insulting. They are working flat out, in the face of air raid sirens and warnings, to protect British lives, protect British interests and protect British allies.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I completely— [Interruption.] I am proud of the work our military are doing in the middle east, and I reject claims about the response. We got ahead of the first strikes in the way that we have set out. I have been unable to find any evidence, in public or in this House, of the shadow Defence Secretary calling at any stage before the war began for military assets to be moved to the middle east. Indeed, the shadow Foreign Secretary was calling barely a month ago in this Chamber for our military “to prioritise or repurpose…inventory to contribute to NATO’s High North missions”. —[ Official Report , 19 January 2026; Vol. 779, c. 81.] The shadow Defence Secretary really is proving himself quite an armchair general—General Hindsight, wise only after the event. I am really disappointed.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“He asks me when the option of Dragon was first put to Ministers. As the Chief of the Defence Staff said on the BBC on Saturday, he looked at the proposals for Dragon being deployed to the middle east on Tuesday last week, and I signed them off the same day. [ Interruption. ] If the hon. Gentleman is unhappy about the state of the British Navy, he should take a hard look at his Government’s record. Over 14 years, they hollowed out and underfunded our forces. They cut £12 billion from the defence budget in their first five years. Total frigate and destroyer numbers were cut from 23 to 17, and in 14 years in government they did not order a single new destroyer. We have Dragon available to go to the middle east today only because the Labour Government commissioned it before 2010.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Let me start by recognising the fact that the shadow Defence Secretary supports the steps we have taken to put UK defence capabilities in the middle eastern region, and that he recognises and supports the fact that we did that in advance of the current crisis. These capabilities and our co-ordination of them have been alongside our US allies and have been purely defensive in nature. We have been making our best contribution to the protection of British interests, British personnel, British bases and British allies in the region. The shadow Defence Secretary asks me about HMS Dragon. While we have been building up that significant military presence in the middle east since January, which he for the first time has recognised and welcomed, it is totally right that, as circumstances change, so should our military posture.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s support for the action we have taken—the deployments I have decided to commit to the region. He asks what we are doing to make good 14 years of our armed forces being hollowed out and underfunded under the previous Government. The first step is to increase defence spending: this year, it is more than £8 billion greater than in the last year under the previous Government, totalling £270 billion in this Parliament alone, which is the single biggest increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war. The defence investment plan that will follow up the strategic defence review is a vision and a plan for rebuilding our forces, strengthening our deterrent, integrating our armed forces for the future and harnessing the accelerating power of new technology.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As I said to the House in my statement, all the decisions we have taken and all actions in the face of the current conflict have been defensive in nature and legally well based. That gives a sound foundation for Ministers’ decisions and it gives forces personnel the fullest confidence in the actions they are taking. That is true of those we have deployed in the region and it will be true of those we have embedded, I am proud to say, in the US forces around the world. I am proud that our US-UK relationship remains deep and close, and that we continue to do things together that no other nations will do.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There are certain things that I will not and cannot disclose publicly. The operations of our submarines fall into that category. My hon. Friend is a long-standing member of the Defence Committee. I know she will understand the sensitivity and the potency of our submarine fleet. She asks the question, but she cannot realistically and reasonably expect an answer; I know that she knows that.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The UK Government are urging Iran to de-escalate. We are deeply concerned about regional stability. Part of the reason for our co-ordinated defensive actions—the contribution we are making in the regional co-ordination centres, but also with our jets flying in defence of middle eastern allies—is to reinforce regional security and stability. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor made an important statement this afternoon, and included the confirmation of the commitment to approve for the Ministry of Defence access to the special reserve to deploy additional capabilities as they are needed to the middle east. I am sure the House will welcome that, as it will welcome the fact that she said, “I am committed to giving our military the resources they need.””
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Let us have the sort of support that recognises that our armed forces are in the region to protect British personnel, British bases and British interests. We are proud that they are doing that job.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is entirely right. When I had the honour of spending part of Thursday with our personnel on our base in Akrotiri, it was not just the teams and the pilots flying the fast jets who were working flat out—the F-35 team I spoke to had deployed at five days’ notice to Cyprus. The whole of the military personnel on that base were doing so, including those looking after and ensuring the relocation of non-essential personnel and families to hotels in the Paphos area. Nothing could be further from the truth and nothing could be more insulting than the suggestion that they are simply “hanging around” in the middle east. I really would like to hear—we did not hear it from the shadow Defence Secretary—any Conservative Member contest what their leader said and apologise on her behalf.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry is also talking to British firms about the contribution they could make to supplying the reinforced defences that our middle eastern partners so badly need.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We are taking this one step at a time, but I appreciate the right hon. Gentleman’s suggestion and the tone in which he offers his thoughts. Like me, he will welcome President Zelenksy’s declaration that Ukraine stands ready and is offering its experience and expertise to the Gulf states facing many of the same Shahed Iranian drones. We are playing our part. The defence special adviser for the middle east is currently making a series of visits to nine Gulf countries with a team that includes British experts in the Ukrainian fight against Putin’s invasion and the technologies Ukraine has been using to defeat many of Putin’s developments and drones.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I can indeed. My hon. Friend is right to underline the statement and the commitment the Chancellor made this afternoon to this House. He is also right to point out that while the US may be our closest ally, as the Prime Minister has said, it is for the Prime Minister and the British Government to decide what is in Britain’s best national interests.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I have the fullest confidence. These arrangements for access, basing and overflight are well established. The relations between the US and the UK are very close. We have operated them together before, and we are doing so now.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend makes important points. I welcome his support for the first concern of this Government, which is the protection of British personnel and British citizens in the wider middle east, our bases and our allies. I know that he supports the action we have taken both before the current conflict broke out and in the week or so since.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The right hon. Gentleman is another former Defence Minister from the previous Government, so he knows all about the decisions that left our Navy in the state it is in now. He will also appreciate that we have taken decisions to deploy the things that Britain can best put into the region to protect our allies and our people, both military and civilian. He will recognise and applaud the fact that because of that, from day one, our fast jets have been flying defensive operations in co-ordination with our allies and our US colleagues, and that where circumstances change, we will adapt the action and decisions that we take, which is what we have done from the point that we saw the indiscriminate extent of the Iranian response last Saturday.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will indeed. My hon. Friend is right: the Community Security Trust does extraordinary work in very difficult times and is responding to deep unease, deep concern and, in some cases, serious fears among the Jewish community in this country.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful for the right hon. Gentleman’s remarks about our armed forces and will ensure that they are passed on. I had not realised he was an honorary citizen of Cyprus; I hope he will appreciate that, as I confirmed in my statement, the head of the national guard has confirmed that co-operation between our militaries has never been closer. I hope he will also appreciate that the defensive capabilities and activities that we are running from Akrotiri are part of defending not just our base, but our people right across Cyprus and the island of Cyprus itself. From that island, we can also help to defend regional allies, which we are doing.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I do, and we are. My hon. Friend will also have noted the Prime Minister’s important speech at the Munich security conference a couple of weeks ago when he recognised that in this new era of threats we face, this is now an era of hard power. He has recognised the need to spend more on defence and to spend it faster.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I have explained to the House the range of defensive capabilities that we put into the region ahead of this current conflict. When we saw the scale of the Iranian reaction to the strikes—the retaliation from Saturday onwards—it was clear that we wanted to do more. I have done more, and I have explained that to the House. I have also explained that these are not just British defensive assets deployed on a fully legal basis; these assets are employed in full co-ordination with the US and our other allies. As I have explained, HMS Dragon will take up its position in the eastern Mediterranean alongside other defensive destroyers that the US has already deployed in the area.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I do agree with my hon. Friend, and we are investing in our Navy, just as we are increasing defence investment across the board, including in the munitions that we need when we are faced with conflicts like this.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Gentleman is a military man by experience. He will understand the nature of the requests that nations make of each other, the agreements that they put in place and how those work. Accessing, basing, overflights—that is exactly the request that we had when it was clear that the Iranian response to the first wave of attacks took us into a new phase. It was a request from the US that we allow US bombers to operate from Fairford and Diego Garcia for specific defensive purposes: to take out the Iranian missile positions. That is what they are doing.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I do agree with my hon. Friend; he speaks with the authority of someone who was serving at the time in 2010. In that first year, the Tories cut £2 billion from the defence budget, and in their first five years they cut £12 billion from defence. They underfunded and hollowed out our armed forces over 14 years.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am not going to announce the deployments of British forces in advance. The hon. Member is right to point to the balance of threats and responsibilities that we have to manage. We are doing that, and we will always fulfil our NATO commitments.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The first duty of any Government is to defend the country, pursue our national interest and support our armed forces. On this occasion, we had expected and look for better from the Leader of the Opposition.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am aware of the 2024 report that the right hon. Gentleman cites, and we are aware of those risks. I say to the House that the right hon. Gentleman puts his 21 years as a Member of this House to good effect in the comments that he makes this afternoon.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“British bases will be used by American aircraft for fully lawful and defensive purposes. That is spelled out in the agreement that we have with the US, and it is to destroy Iran’s missile bases, which hold such indiscriminate risk and threat to our personnel and allies in the region.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The last thing the right hon. Lady will find me doing is commenting on American political affairs. What she will find me doing as Defence Secretary is putting the protection of British people—military and civilians—bases and allies front and centre.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend will have heard me set out in my statement, and in response to other questions, the principles on which the decisions that we have taken are based. They will continue to inform any future decision that we take, as circumstances in this conflict may change.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We will take the action we need to defend British interests, personnel and civilians. The right hon. Gentleman is right to say that our personnel are at risk—as he puts it, they are in the firing line. I am incredibly proud of the work they are doing not just to protect our bases and each other, but to protect our allies in the region and to lead the co-ordination of defensive operations that help to keep the middle east safe in the face of these Iranian attacks.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Our first priority is British citizens in the region. That is why my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and her team are working so hard to advise and help Britain bring Brits back. My priority is to protect our forces personnel and ensure they can play their role in protecting our allies and British citizens in the region. I recognise that many people have friends and family stranded in the middle east, and are concerned about their future. I am incredibly proud of the role that our armed forces are playing in doing just that.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We have taken that video down through an abundance of caution. The last thing that I and the British Government would want to do is put Ukrainians at risk; we would not allow that to happen. I want to ensure that the steps we take in our support of Ukraine—just like those we take in support of our allies in the middle east—reflect our national interests and our duty to protect our own people.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I do indeed. That contract will not just secure well over 3,000 jobs for the future, but will create opportunities for many more in the years ahead. It is not just a contract to build new medium helicopters in Yeovil; Leonardo has committed to make Yeovil and the UK its global centre for the development and export of military helicopters, and for the development of helicopter autonomy for the future. The contract reinforces and is a great vote of confidence in Britian’s innovation and industrial base.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Gentleman will note that we have only the reports from the Iranian regime about the strike. He will be aware that the US is looking into this at present.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is right to pay tribute to the Iranian community in his home city of Edinburgh; I echo his comments. He is also right, of course, that in 14 years the Conservatives did not commission a single new destroyer. We have HMS Dragon, which is set to sail this week—in the next couple of days—only because it was commissioned by the previous Labour Government.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am always interested in ways of getting more funding into defence. That is one of the reasons that I have laid such stress not just on the record increase in defence investment that the Government are making from the public purse, but on ways that we can leverage that with investment from private sources. That is why we have a defence investors advisory group, which will shortly set out its report with proposals that we can pursue.”
House of Commons9 March 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“When the Russians radioed to demand their surrender, the Ukrainians told the ship’s command to get lost—in fact, they told them so in stronger terms that I cannot repeat in the House this afternoon. That defiance has driven Ukrainian resistance to Russia every day of the conflict since. That defiance burned fiercely in Kyiv last month when I met emergency workers, military chiefs, Ukrainian Ministers and President Zelensky himself, because Ukrainians—civilians and military alike—are still fighting with the same courage and determination that inspired the world in February 2022.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I beg to move, That this House has considered the situation in Ukraine. Yesterday marked a milestone that none of us wanted to see: four years of Putin’s war on Ukraine; four years of his brutal full-scale invasion of that sovereign nation, a proud country that has fought back against Putin’s attacks and—let us not forget—suffered 12 years under the pain of occupation. This week we stand with the families mourning loved ones, the troops fighting on the frontline and the millions displaced from home, yearning for the opportunity to return. Four years ago today, a dozen Ukrainian border guards on Snake island—a tiny, isolated island in the middle of the Black sea—were surrounded by Russian sea and air forces.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Manufacturing is falling at its fastest rate, oil revenues are plunging and food prices are soaring. Make no mistake: Putin is under pressure. He targets Ukrainian cities, civilians and energy supplies and, during the coldest winter for a decade, he has killed Ukrainian children in their beds, destroyed hospital wards and plunged entire cities into darkness. For 2026, the Government’s mission—Britain’s mission—for Ukraine is simple: support the fight today, secure the peace tomorrow, and step up the pressure on Putin.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The average casualty rate for Russian troops is now 1,000 each day, every day, and the average life expectancy of a conscript deployed to the Russian frontline is now less than five days. Putin is desperate to avoid a second Russian mobilisation, and because of that he is turning to more desperate measures to plug the gaps. He is increasingly heavily reliant on foreign fighters. He has already called on 17,000 North Koreans, who are fighting for him on his frontline, and he is now preying on thousands of men from Latin America, central Asia and Africa, sending them to their deaths on his frontline. But Putin’s war machine continues to be degraded, and his war economy continues to be damaged. In Russia, 40% of Government spending now goes on the military.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“He wants the world to believe that Russia has unstoppable momentum on the battlefield, that the Ukrainians have no choice but to concede on his terms, and that we, as Ukraine’s western allies, have grown weary. But he is wrong, wrong, wrong. This was a war that Putin thought he would win in a week, but four years on, he has achieved none of his strategic aims. Instead, he has inflicted terrible suffering on his own people, as well as Ukraine’s. He is failing. Of course, Ukrainian troops are certainly under pressure on the frontline, but Russia has now been fighting in Ukraine for longer than the Soviet Union fought Germany during the second world war, its forces are advancing more slowly than those in the battle of the Somme, and nearly one and a quarter million Russians have been injured or killed.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It reminds us that we must redouble our determination to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. I will move on to the question of air defence later, but the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins) is quite right: he and I were both told, when out in Kyiv last month, that it is President Zelenksy’s first priority. As the hon. Gentleman will have seen, when I chaired the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters two weeks ago, I announced that Britain was committing an extra £500 million package of air defence systems and missiles in order to meet the urgent need that he and I both saw that day. President Putin postures as a strongman.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his visit to Kyiv. The fact that Members across the House have been regularly to Ukraine lifts the morale of the Ukrainian people and reminds them that the UK stands with them as strongly now as four years ago. The hon. Gentleman is right. The night before I arrived in Kyiv, 90 Shahed drones had hit the city, 21 of which had been targeted directly at residential accommodation. The block that he and I both visited, which had had its side ripped open by one of the drone strikes, had been hit twice, an hour and a half apart, deliberately, so that the emergency workers who had gone in to help those suffering after the first strike were then hit and, in one case, killed by the second. This is an indication of cynical and illegal tactics and the war crimes that Putin is committing in Ukraine.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Ukrainians there called it the best UDCG yet. It also sent the clear message to Moscow that we are more united and more determined than ever to support Ukraine.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. As Father of the House, he is able to speak for the House and for all sides, and he speaks for our nation. On supporting Ukraine’s fight today, spending on military assistance is at its highest ever level this year. Two weeks ago, I convened and chaired the 33rd meeting of the 50-nation-strong Ukraine Defence Contact Group, alongside the German Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius. We worked to make the meeting a big UDCG with big commitments for 2026. For the UK’s part, I announced a new package, worth half a billion pounds, of urgent air defence support, which, as I said to the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins), is President Zelensky’s top priority. In total, the UDCG raised nearly $40 billion in new pledges of aid for Ukraine.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will indeed. We are proud of our British defence industry. It equips our armed forces, it has helped to equip the Ukrainians and it has helped to provide the essential aid to keep the Ukrainians in the fight for the last four years, and my hon. Friend’s constituents who work at MBDA in Stevenage are playing a really important part in that. Ukraine reminds us of a deep lesson that we had overlooked for too long, which is that when a country is forced to fight or faced with conflict, its armed forces are only as strong as the industry that stands behind them. We take great pride, on all sides of the House, in the great innovation of British industry and in what its workers are able to do.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The principle on which we have donated British-made weapons to Ukraine has been consistently for the defence of Ukraine. That is how Ukraine has been using them, and using them effectively.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I know that my hon. Friend has some advanced defence tech firms in his patch. There are things we can do in this country that are valuable to Ukraine, and I will come on to a particular joint programme we have with Ukraine in a moment, but I have to say to my hon. Friend that the Ukrainians have the most creative, combat-experienced defence industry and armed forces in the world at present, and we also have a great deal to learn. It is important that we are able to welcome Ukrainian firms that wish to set up new factories and plants in the United Kingdom. I know that the shadow Defence Secretary has welcomed such a Ukrainian company into his constituency—it is set to open this week, I hope.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Both the British Army and the Royal Air Force are now conducting exercises in preparation, and I have already accelerated £200 million to ensure that our forces have the kit they need to deploy.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am proud to serve in a British Cabinet under a Prime Minister who was the very first world leader to commit troops on the ground in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. Following the Paris summit that he co-chaired last month, the work of the coalition of the willing is more advanced now than ever. Yesterday, he chaired a meeting of 36 coalition leaders, who confirmed that Ukraine can go into 2026 confident in the knowledge that when the war ends it will have security guarantees, a big prosperity agreement and a path to EU membership. The coalition of the willing’s multinational force for Ukraine will deploy when peace is agreed to secure Ukraine’s skies and seas and to regenerate its armed forces for the future.”
House of Commons25 February 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗