Highlights - PM answers questions in parliament

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown answered questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Following are key comments from Brown in the 30-minute session:

ON PLANNED BRITISH AIRWAYS STRIKE:

"What we need to do is to get the unions and the management to talk to each other.

"I have talked to both sides and I believe the agreement that was near to being reached last Thursday is one on which they can build for an agreement this week."

ON NEXT WEEK'S BUDGET:

"The budget will be about building a stronger economy and taking on the decisions that have taken us through the recession."

ON DEFENCE SPENDING RECORD:

"It (defence spending) rose every year in cash terms... because of our expenditure on Afghanistan and our expenditure on Iraq, we have spent 17 billion (pounds) more than the defence budget but because of operational fluctuations in the way the money is spent, expenditure has risen in cash terms every year, in real terms it is 12 percent higher, but I do accept that in one or two years defence expenditure did not rise in real terms."