From the debate in Parliament today, this exchange between Crawley’s MP, Laura Moffatt, and the Prime Minister:
Laura Moffatt (Crawley, Labour)

My right hon. Friend rightly focused on the issue of first-class equipment for our brave troops in Afghanistan. At the recent opening of the £100-million Thales plant in Crawley the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and I saw the fantastic work being done there, and how much pride our workers feel in the fact that they are producing first-class equipment for our troops. A lot of this sort of information could be put out to our constituents without putting our troops at risk; if we did that, would that not let the public know that we have confidence in our troops and that we are giving them the very best of equipment, produced in the UK?

Gordon Brown (Prime Minister; Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, Labour)

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: the equipment being produced for our troops, to deal with the new eventuality of the guerrilla warfare being practised by the Taliban, is of a very high quality. I am proud of the British firms that contribute to the equipment orders that are making possible greater security for our forces in Afghanistan. We will continue to upgrade the equipment available to our forces. In addition to the ordinary defence budget, several billion pounds have now been spent on new equipment-whether it be vehicles, helicopters or equipment to deal with IEDs-and some very notable firms, including some in my hon. Friend’s constituency, are responsible for the advances we are making in both technology and equipment.