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

Marcus Donaldson
Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:27:53 +0000

Labour defence minister Luke Pollard has rowed with GB News host Stephen Dixon for “talking down” the state of Britain's armed services.

Speaking to GB News and standing before a Royal Navy frigate, the Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry hit back at claims that the military was “on its knees”.

Quizzing Mr Pollard on the nation’s defence posture, GB News host Stephen Dixon despaired: “We've got high unemployment, flat growth, above target inflation, massively high electricity bills compared to Europe.

"We've got a huge welfare bill. Businesses are crumbling under high taxes. Armed forces on their knees.

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“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”.

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“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."