Urgent Question on Ukraine

On Tuesday 19 December 2023, an Urgent Question was tabled by the Opposition to ask the Secretary of Defence for a statement on the situation in Ukraine, and I asked the Minister a question: “In August this year, the then Defence Secretary said that he would publish the action plan for Ukraine in 2023. Will it be published before the end of the year?”

The Minister answered by saying: “I simply say to the right hon. Lady, as I have been saying throughout, that we are delivering action every week in Ukraine. The amount of ordnance we have supplied and continue to supply—particularly in terms of air defence, which is now increasingly crucial—is huge. I have listed the many numbers. Some of it, of course, we cannot talk about. There are technologies that we are testing out there, ensuring that our munitions are successful. What I can say is that if we look at the work of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, for example—as I say, I cannot talk about the detail—we can see that it has had a huge bearing on the impact of what we have donated into theatre.”

The Minister failed to answer the question. His predecessor pledged to publish the action plan for Ukraine in 2023 and we are fast approaching the end of 2023 and yet no action plan has been published by the Government.