The Committee is likely to question the Secretary of State about the funding and readiness of the UK’s Armed Forces, in light of his comment that the UK is moving from a ‘post-war’ to a ‘pre-war’ world.

The session will explore whether the current defence budget is sufficient given the level of global threats to UK interests, the budgetary impact of the Spring statement on military capability, and warfighting readiness in terms of personnel numbers, the UK’s industrial base and the National Defence Plan. Questions are likely to cover uncertainty over the time scale for meeting the target of 2.5% of GDP on defence, the future of military aid to Ukraine and plans to improve recruitment and retention.