Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con): May I welcome this review, and especially the careful analysis that has gone into it and the conclusions that have been reached? Does the Prime Minister agree that this is just the starting point for a fundamental transformation of defence in this country so that in 10 years' time we will have a defence posture and capability capable of securing the way ahead for Great Britain?

The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend is right. The whole point about this review is that it has a vision for what our forces should look like in 2020-10 years' time rather than just five years' time. Because the Ministry of Defence and the service chiefs can now see their budgets for the whole of the spending review period, they can make proper plans and try to drive some efficiencies through the MOD so that they get even more for the money that they have. We must have reviews every five years. The problem has been that we had a review in 1998, which was not properly funded, and then a sort of scissors crisis, in which the commitments went in one direction and the ability to fund them went in another direction. To stop that happening in future, we need regular defence reviews and that is what we are committed to having.