BAE Systems and EADS

Lord Hughes of Woodside Excerpts

Wednesday 10th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Marland]

Indeed, the national interests are absolutely fundamental and, of course, my noble friend was in Cabinet when those decisions were made. They were made to protect the national interest. However, the Government have not had to make a decision on that issue. The two companies have decided among themselves that they are not going to merge, and we are therefore in the fortunate position of allowing them to make that decision without us intervening.

[Lord Hughes of Woodside]

Did the Minister hear the reports at lunchtime which said that one of the major reasons for the breakdown in negotiations was the insistence of Angela Merkel and the German Government on greater control over the combined company? Is this so? If it is, is it not good that they did break down?

[Lord Marland]

I am not going to respond to the media interpretation of this breakdown. For those who wish to look at the official announcement, it related to the legal structure between the two entities, whether they would operate in the countries and how they would share the workload. Those were fundamental reasons for the breakdown. Of course the German Government will have views on this merger, as do indeed our Government and the French. It would be, as my noble friend Lord Tebbit said, totally appropriate that we should. It is important in all our national interests.