UK politics – live: Backlash against £500m defence cuts on ‘sad day’ for Navy and Army

John Healey should not pretend he is “just clearing out an old cupboard” in his commissioning decisions, a Conservative MP has warned.

Sir Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) asked the Defence Secretary: “So what does this announcement tell us about how the strategic defence review is really going?”

“One of the lessons of the Ukraine war is that old kit can be very useful (and) America’s airfields and dockyards are stacked full of old kit for future contingencies. We are throwing away capabilities which are only out of commission because there wasn’t enough money and now he’s telling us there’s probably even less money.

“So please will he not come to this House and pretend he’s just clearing out an old cupboard of rubbish that everybody had forgotten about and that the defence chiefs are hopping up and down with delight at his clearing out?”

Mr Healey responded that the decommissioning decisions have been made but it is yet to be decided what to do with the kit.

He added: “What my decisions in the announcements today can tell the House and (Sir Bernard), first of all that people will be at the heart of the plans for the future. Secondly, that the recognition that technology is rapidly changing and at an accelerating pace, and so that and that imperative will be part of the strategic defence review.

“And finally, the lesson of Ukraine that he talks about also tells us is that you have to have an increasingly integrated force. That’s reflected in the decisions I’ve taken today. He should expect that to be reflected also in the confirmation recommendations of the strategic defence review.”

Read the full report from our political editor David Maddox below:

Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge asked whether Ukraine would be given the UK’s decommissioned helicopters or drones as he pressed John Healey to say why he had made the announcement before the strategic defence review was complete.

Mr Cartlidge said: “To be clear, on Watchkeeper, as the minister who launched the MoD’s first ever drones strategy, I very much appreciate this is an area where we need to ensure we move fast and add capabilities able to deliver in the modern battle space.

“On Ukraine, will he be gifting any of these capabilities to Ukraine, such as the older Chinooks or Pumas, especially given what happened yesterday?

“Finally, and most importantly, what on earth does this all mean for the strategic defence review?

“From MRSS to future drones for the British armed forces, he will no doubt say ‘wait on the SDR’ – so why didn’t he wait on the SDR before making today’s decisions?”

The Army “knows what it can do better” than using 14-year-old Watchkeeper Mk I drones in an era when “drone technology has a life cycle of two to three months”, the Defence Secretary has said.

John Healey told the Commons the Army would be “rapidly replacing” equipment “in an era now as Ukraine tells us where drone technology has a life cycle of two to three months”.

He added: “The Army know what they can do better, they know they can do it more quickly, they know how they want to be able to focus their efforts for the future and decommissioning the Watchkeeper Mk Is will allow them better to do that.”

Johanna Baxter, the Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, said: “Technology is changing the nature of the threats that we face.

“So can the Secretary of State confirm that this Government will work closely with the defence industry to harness new technologies to ensure that our forces have the kit that they need to respond effectively to increasing threats?”

Lord Alan West, a former First Sea Lord, has criticised the move by the government to decommission Royal Navy flagships.

“The Navy has been squeezed more and more,” he told The Telegraph.

“I hope they say they will put in the order for the new amphibious ships now in order to replace these capabilities. If you don’t put the orders in, the ships won’t be built and available when you need ships to replace them when they are falling apart, which is what has routinely happened.

“I feel it is a sad day, yet again showing that over the last 14 years people have forgotten how important the sea and maritime is to the Navy. I understand if there is no money and people are broke, but it means there is less resilience.”

Defence secretary John Healey said he had consulted those involved in the Government’s strategic defence review before making the Royal Navy cuts.

He also told the Commons HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark had been “mothballed” with no likelihood of them ever returning to sea.

Mr Healey said: “I have made these decisions today in consultation with the reviewers to make sure these are aligned with their thinking, and we have done so in dialogue with Nato.”

He added: “He mentioned HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark. They were mothballed. There were no plans for either of these ships to go back to sea for nearly 10 years until they were due to be taken out of service.

“These were not ready to sail, these were not ready to fight, they were capabilities that can be covered elsewhere, and this will save us – every year – money that we can redeploy within defence to upgrade our forces and our technologies for the future.”

Mr Healey went on to accuse the Conservatives of not having proper plans to fulfil their pre-election pledge of spending 2.5% of GDP on defence.

He said of shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge: “He knows the truth of the black hole that his Government left across the board, but he did nothing in defence to get a grip of the budgets, he did nothing to decommission out-of-date kit, and I’m taking the action now to strengthen defence for the future.

“These decision were overdue. The service chiefs support these changes, it means we can move more rapidly, as we must.”

Decisions about the future of decommissioned equipment “have not yet been made”, Defence Secretary John Healey has said.

Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, said: “It’s right that old platforms are being retired and we’re transitioning to newer equipment, and I’m also glad to note that it has the full backing of our military chiefs.

“However, this is being implemented without the full findings of the strategic defence review being announced, and obviously there are cost implications.”

The Labour MP added: “Will the unrequired kit be either sold to allies or be given to Ukraine?”

Mr Healey replied: “These are decisions I have taken now, as I said in my statement, that both help us to get a grip of the MoD budget now and to create greater scope to better implement the strategic defence review when it reports. These are decisions that as I have said are overdue, they are decisions that were ducked by previous ministers in the previous government.

“Further decisions about what to do with the decommissioned equipment have not yet been made, but I will make sure that when I make those decisions I will inform his committee.”

The Royal United Services Institute’s Military Sciences Director Matthew Savill said: “These are mostly capabilities that are approaching retirement anyway, have been at low levels of readiness or aren’t worth further refits or investment (Watchkeeper is probably obsolete).

“But the fact that Defence either can’t crew them, or is prepared to cut them to make very modest savings over five years in the current international environment is an indication of just how tight resources must be in the MOD right now.

“In particular, the Defence Review will be under pressure to set out the future role of the Royal Marines; how the Navy will bring into service and sustain more escorts, which are the workhorses of the fleet; and the impact upon helicopter capacity and procurement.”

Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge blamed Rachel Reeves for the plans, announced by Defence Secretary John Healey.

He said: “Whatever the Chancellor’s true grasp of economics, she’s certainly been able to force her priorities onto the country, getting the MoD to scrap major capabilities before they’ve undertaken the department’s much vaunted strategic defence review.

“They’ve killed off North Sea oil, undermining our energy security; this week they are killing off the family farm and threatening our food security. Today they’re scrapping key defence capabilities and weakening our national security.

“Labour have made their choices; they own the consequences.”

Mr Cartlidge said he had been assured former flagships HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion could have been made battleworthy in the event of a war.

He said: “I personally sought and received assurances from the Navy’s leadership… that in the event of a full-scale war fighting scenario where the priority for the navy was literal capability, those ships could have still been regenerated to a condition able to fight, and the crews found.”

He added: “Permanently scrapping the landing ships means we remove that capability entirely. So, what impact will this have on the operational effectiveness of the Royal Marines?

“MRSS (multi-role support ship) is intended to fill the gap but will be at least eight to nine years away. Is he still committed to MRSS?”