Defense Minister John Healey has refused to rule out mothballing one of Britain’s two aircraft carriers as a result of the strategic defense review carried out by Sir Keir Starmer’s government.

During his first session before the newly constituted Commons Defense Committee, Mr Healey was asked directly about the fate of the carriers – HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales – by Labor MP Emma Lewell-Buck.

Mr. Healey, who had discussed strategic defense review Launched when he took office in July, he warned MPs that the government must show “realism and honesty the commitments we can make to allies and we make when we commit our own forces.”

On Wednesday, he had made a surprise announcement in the Commons about £500m of cuts, including scrapping the Royal Navy’s two remaining amphibious craft, 31 helicopters (14 Chinooks and 17 Pumas), patrol drones and a frigate HMS Northumberland.

But he had been clear that the cuts “will not be the last difficult decisions I will have to make.”

Appearing before the committee with rumors about the fate of one of the two aircraft carriers, Lewell-Buck asked: “Would you be able to stop the rumors about our carriers? Are they safe or is one going to be mothballed?”

Mr Healey made it clear that the fate of the two carriers is being considered in the strategic defense review.

He said: “There are some really important capabilities we have across the board. The strategic defense review looks across the board at everything.”

He added: “I certainly don’t want you to think that any part of the program we have at the moment is at risk. This is a matter of review and not risk.”

Earlier he told the defense committee: “This is a serious moment that I am coming before the committee. Defense intelligence will today reveal that the front line is now less stable than at any time since the early days of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022.

“We’ve seen in recent weeks a very clear escalation from Putin and his forces. They’ve stepped up attacks on the energy system in Ukraine ahead of winter, they’ve stepped up attacks on civilian centers that are killing children, they’ve deployed at least 10,000 to the North. Korean troops to the front line of battle.

“And there are unconfirmed media reports today that Russia is firing a new ballistic missile into Ukraine, which we know they have been preparing for months.

“While the Ukrainian actions on the battlefield speak for themselves, have no doubt that the UK government is increasing our support for Ukraine, determined to continue to redouble our support for Ukraine.

“This is what I told (Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem) Umerov in a long conversation on Tuesday. This is what I discussed with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday.”

The committee’s Labor chairman Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi pressed him on a timetable to reach 2.5 percent of GDP on defense spending, but he refused to commit to a date.

Mr Dhesi warned him that “authoritarian countries like Russia and North Korea” are already on a war footing with their spending.

Mr Healey pointed to the commitments to reach 2.5 per cent in the budget but said MPs would have to wait for the Strategic Defense Review to be published next year first.