Strategic Priorities Statement: Defence

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question, but I am not sure he listened to the first Answer I gave. I very clearly said that the statement of strategic priorities sets out how the National Wealth Fund will invest in defence. It says very clearly that it should invest in

“dual-use technologies and … support supply chain resilience across these priority sectors, to better support the UK’s defence and security”.

It also says that the National Wealth Fund

“should consider the role it can play in supporting the delivery of the wider Industrial Strategy, including in defence”.

That wider industrial strategy absolutely achieves many of the things the noble Lord is talking about. The strategic aim of the defence industrial strategy is to make sure that the imperatives of national security and a high-growth economy are fully aligned.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Jackson of Peterborough, for bringing the attention of your Lordships’ House to this issue and once again encouraging me properly to research a subject. On 19 March, the Chancellor wrote to the CEO of the National Wealth Fund to communicate the Government’s strategic priorities for the fund. That latter document on three occasions explicitly identifies defence as a priority under Investment Principle 2. It also goes on to enjoin the CEO to refer, in assigning priorities, to the Government’s industrial strategy Green Paper, which in turn refers to the importance of the UK’s defence sector no fewer than 38 times. The former Conservative Business Secretary, Greg Clark, described that Green Paper as a serious and substantial document and applauded it for singling out eight sectors, including defence, as priorities. Does the Minister agree with me that it is reasonable to expect the CEO of the fund to read beyond the press release and to examine in depth the correspondence and references to which his attention has been drawn?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am very grateful to my noble friend for his question. He far more eloquently than me set out what I was attempting to say in my previous answer. He draws attention to the importance of reading the documents that are in your Question before tabling your Question.