UK-Türkiye Typhoon Export Deal

Debate between Andrew Snowden and Luke Pollard

Wednesday 29th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Luke Pollard]

I thank my hon. Friend for his welcome, and for the support he has provided to the workforce at Samlesbury, and indeed in the wider supply chain. I was at Warton and Samlesbury last week to see and hear from apprentices, especially at the BAE Systems skills centre, about the opportunities that an apprenticeship has opened up for them.

Importantly, those opportunities are not just for those leaving school and directly taking up an apprenticeship. I was struck that one gentleman has left the Parachute Regiment to pursue his skills with BAE Systems at Samlesbury, and is using the skills he learned in the armed forces and putting them to good use in support of our national security. We want to expand the number of apprenticeship opportunities in defence and to expand the skills base, because there are good opportunities in defence for more of our young people—and perhaps those people who are still young at heart—to make sure that we are enhancing our national security. That is at the heart of the defence industrial strategy.

[Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)]

Ever since I was elected, it has been a critical part of my work to push to secure Typhoon orders at the Warton site because of the impact those orders would have not only on jobs across Fylde and Lancashire, but on our sovereign capability to build our own military aircraft. I massively welcome this announcement and the work that has been done by Ministers on the Front Bench and former Ministers on the Opposition Benches. I was touched that the Minister invited me to join him on his visit to BAE Systems last week, although the Prime Minister did not invite me to the announcement in my own constituency yesterday—perhaps he has been taking my questions at PMQs too personally.

The deal is welcome, but it means that we are now the only major partner in the Eurofighter project that is not ordering the aircraft that we are trying to sell to other countries. We are trying to sell aircraft abroad that we are not buying ourselves. I am sure it would be a great aid to future export deals—for getting that extra 20 further down the line and for looking at Saudi and other places where we are trying to sell them—and equally, it would continue to boost our sovereign capability in military aircraft and maintain jobs across our country if we placed that order for more Typhoons for the RAF. I would happily heap praise on the Minister if he did so.

[Luke Pollard]

I am heaping praise on the workforce in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and across Lancashire. It makes it so much easier to sell our products when we have a world-class workforce producing world-class products. I am sorry that he was not able to join me on my visit, but I know that he is a regular visitor to those facilities, so he will have heard about the importance of this order and why it has been such a priority for the Government to get it over the line.

The hon. Gentleman will know that all our spending commitments will be made in the defence investment plan that will be published towards the end of this year, something that I spoke to the workforce and the trade unions about when I met them on my recent visit. There are enormous opportunities in the export market to help to support the supply chains in the meantime, and they are not just about the end product—although his constituency really values that. This is a good news day for the 330 companies across our country for which there will be more orders to sustain good, well-paid jobs.

Fiscal Policy: Defence Spending

Debate between Andrew Snowden and Luke Pollard

Monday 27th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Luke Pollard]

The strategic defence review will set out clearly what threats the nation is facing and what capabilities we need. I would expect to see renewal of our capabilities, because we have seen from the war in Ukraine that warfare has changed. Some of the assumptions about how we structure our armed forces and how we fight have been challenged by the experience of warfare in Ukraine, and that is one of the reasons why this SDR is so important. It will set out the evolving capabilities that we need and how we will deliver them to keep our nation safe.

[Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)]

Given that the vast majority of the Ministry of Defence supply chain is in the private sector—for example, BAE Systems in Fylde at Warton and at Samlesbury, with jobs across Lancashire—and that those private companies have seen significant increases in costs following the Chancellor’s Budget squeezing their payroll costs, as well as increasing regulation through the employment Bill and in other areas, we will be able to buy considerably less kit for 2.5% at the end of the defence review than at the start of it. As the Government go through the defence review process, are they cutting the shopping list or planning to go above 2.5%?

[Luke Pollard]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, and I support the work of the private sector businesses that do so much to support our armed forces. The needs of our armed forces will change and are changing; that means changed capability, but it also means a change in how we buy our kit. Certainly, if we look at some of the absolute procurement disasters under the last Government—only two of 49 defence procurement projects are on time and on budget—we see that we need not only to buy the right kit, but to buy it better. That is something that the last Government clearly failed to do; the shadow defence procurement Minister himself, the right hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford, described the defence procurement system as “broken”. We need to take steps forward, and the SDR and the defence industrial strategy will set out how we will improve defence procurement.