British Industry and Services: Public Procurement

Lord Stirrup Excerpts

Tuesday 7th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble Baroness has huge experience in this—and as soon as we talk about defence, I have to declare myself as an honorary captain in the Royal Navy. With regard to individual procurement decisions, she knows as well as me that I would not have been involved in the direct procurement, but I can ensure that the Defence Minister writes to her on it. However, let me be clear about what the defence investment plan means for British jobs. There will be an additional 60,000 British jobs because of the investment that this Government chose to make that the previous Government did not.

[Lord Stirrup (CB)]

My Lords, it is reported today that Lockheed Martin is buying Ultra Maritime, a company which makes important underwater capabilities and should be of personal interest to the Minister. That company was formed when two long-standing, brilliant British defence companies were taken over by Advent, an American private equity company, so it has now completed its journey from being an outstanding British defence company to being part of a very large American prime. Can the Minister say how this fits in with the policy of the Government that she has just described, and what work the Government are doing to look at the acquisition and procurement process over the entire piece to ensure that we have sufficient resilience within it?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble and gallant Lord is absolutely right: we need not just sovereign capabilities but sovereign skill capabilities so that we can build what we need, especially in the defence sector—he will not be surprised that I agree with him there. Defence is an area that we are working closely on. It is one of the pathfinder areas for the new procurement strategy that we have announced as part of the exemption from the Procurement Act 2023. A lot of this will have to be about what happens next. I was not aware of that specific case until the noble and gallant Lord raised it, but I will speak to my colleagues.