Labour Minister clashes with Stephen Dixon over ‘talking down’ Britain’s defence

We've got a huge welfare bill. Businesses are crumbling under high taxes. Armed forces on their knees. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say “And yet the Prime Minister says resilience has been at the heart of my government's approach?”Shooting back, the minister responded: “I don't agree with what you've just said there. Our armed forces are not on their knees. “We have capable, lethal armed forces that are globally deployed, keeping us safe at the very moment. “I just don't subscribe to this talking down of our armed forces that we're seeing from some features, some figures in the media and some politicians in Parliament.“I'm really proud of the work that the men and women of our armed forces are doing.“Nobody is talking down the men and women serving in our armed forces,” Stephen returned fire. “I should know I'm married to one, now a veteran. But when he was in a tank regiment, they didn't have any tanks. “A tank regiment with no tanks, minister,” the GB News star stressed. Mr Pollard accepted that it was “certainly true that we've inherited a situation where over the last decade and a half, our armed forces were hollowed out and underfunded”. LATEST DEVELOPMENTSPM blasts European allies for 'needing to do more on Nato' as he sends message to Donald Trump‘Talking down the Royal Navy!’ GB News stars clash over HMS Dragon after ship forced to dockNigel Farage agrees Donald Trump must ‘take some blame’ for economic impact of Iran war“In the first budget, the last government made, they cut the armed forces in our first budget with increased defence spending. “Now it takes about six to eight years to build a frigate like the one behind me We know there's more to do to bring this new technology forward.“That's precisely why we're investing in more shipbuilding, in more industrial capabilities, and adding more uncrewed and autonomous systems alongside our crewed platforms to give our fighting forces the extra capability that they need to deal with the threats that we are facing,” the Labour Minister insisted.The topic of “talking down” the armed forces proved to be an emotive one in recent days, with GB News stars Charlie Peters and Pierce also clashing over the issue. As news of HMS Dragon being forced to dock emerged over the week, a despairing Andrew began to refer to the vessel as “HMS Hopeless”.Charlie was keen to address this characterisation, telling the GB News hosts that he was “slightly concerned” about the moniker.“I think we are a little bit at risk of taking down the Royal Navy amid this situation,” he said.“These sailors have grafted quite an extraordinary feat to get that ship out. It's not. It's not their fault. Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter