Strategic Priorities Statement: Defence

Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I do agree with that, because the noble Baroness described exactly what the National Wealth Fund is there to do: to work closely with the private sector to catalyse more private sector investment in industries that we consider to be priority sectors. As the rest of this Question has shown, defence is very much one of those priority sectors.2

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (Con)]

My Lords, for the National Wealth Fund to crowd in capital at the scale envisaged, it must be empowered to deploy capital against higher levels of risk appetite and against a wide range of products and financial investments. Moreover, it will need to operate at market pace. Whatever the strengths of the Treasury, historically it has not been renowned for its risk appetite or pace. What steps does the Treasury intend to take to ensure that the National Wealth Fund is empowered to act, not only with the appropriate risk appetite but with the necessary pace, to attract private sector investment?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. I do not agree with her criticism of the Treasury, but I agree with what she said about risk appetite. That is exactly why, when the Chancellor wrote to the National Wealth Fund, she specifically said that the

“economic capital limit will … be increased from £4.5 billion to £7 billion, allowing”

the National Wealth Fund to “take on greater risk”, and giving greater “flexibility over its investments” to

“support more projects that struggle to access private finance”.