Russian Maritime Activity and UK Response

Lord Harlech Excerpts

Tuesday 28th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I understand the point the noble Lord is making with respect to Bahrain, but let me say this. The UK acts wherever it needs to to protect its interests. I often make the point about the indivisibility of conflict. I went to Vietnam recently. Vietnam is concerned about Ukraine, because it has brought Russia and China closer together in a way that it never expected. I am proud of the fact that, notwithstanding Bahrain, later this year, we will lead a carrier strike group out into the Indo-Pacific to demonstrate that the law of the sea, the international rules-based order, is something that is important to us. There are numerous countries, both in Europe and in the Far East, including our allies Australia and New Zealand, that will stand with us in delivering that capability. Defending the rule of law in those areas is important. You cannot divide peace and security in one part of the world from peace and security in another, and I for one am pleased that the carrier strike group is going out into the Indo-Pacific later this year.

[Lord Harlech (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a serving Army Reserve officer and pay tribute to the Minister for the fulsome and frank responses which he always gives when defence questions come up. In his earlier remarks, he mentioned AUKUS. That, along with the Tempest programme, are two key flagship defence procurement projects. The US Congress has recently raised concerns about the US side of the deal and that their shipyards are not currently where they need to be to start producing the boats. We have had warm messages of support for both projects from the Government, which are welcome, but actual project updates are thin on the ground, so, perhaps not now, could the Minister commit to updating the House that both projects are where they need to be?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I certainly can do. First, I again pay tribute to the service that the noble Lord demonstrates through his activity in the reserves—it would be wrong not to do that.

I will deal with the projects one by one. AUKUS is a phenomenal project. The Government have just announced £9 billion of investment in Rolls-Royce to deliver the propulsion units for the nuclear-powered submarines. That relationship between the US, the UK and Australia is fundamental to the peace and security of the globe as we go forward. As far as we are concerned, pillar 1 is moving forward at pace. Issues may well arise with a project such as AUKUS, but they will be dealt with as necessary, and the AUKUS project moves at pace.

The pillar 2 aspects of that—the technology and development of other capabilities—are also moving along. Discussions are taking place about whether we move beyond the initial three countries to involve other countries. So, as an update to the noble Lord, I say that AUKUS is moving forward at pace.

On GCAP, which noble Lords know is the relationship between ourselves, Japan and Italy that aims to develop a sixth-generation fighter, I can say that that too is moving. Various treaties have been put in place and various commitments have been made to it. We will see a sixth-generation fighter produced by those three nations, which again will contribute to the defence and security of the globe.

Both those updates are not good news stories in terms of gloating and saying what a wonderful thing this is; but it is good to say—notwithstanding the noble Baroness’s challenge about money—that with both AUKUS and GCAP we have capabilities that are being developed that will secure our own country and alliances and enable us to stand up in the future for peace and security in Europe and beyond. As such, we should celebrate both of them.