Defence Industrial Base

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Monday 16th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

The Prime Minister has been very clear about his commitment to ensure that the 62 recommendations are properly funded. The noble Baroness will know that the 3% is a commitment in the next Parliament, should the economic circumstances allow us to do so. The Prime Minister’s commitment is absolute, with respect to funding the defence review, and the noble Lord, Lord Robertson, accepts and understands that. As to when we will lay out the capabilities, the noble Baroness knows that alongside the defence review and the defence industrial strategy, in the autumn there will be a defence investment plan. This will be a line-by-line outline of the capabilities and choices needed to deliver the defence review according to the budgets that have been set.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, I ask my noble friend the Minister: does the Treasury now understand that all this military equipment requires a drumbeat of orders? For example, if you want 30 frigates and they have 30-year life, one frigate has to roll off the production line every single year, year after year. The same goes for all other types of equipment. Historically, we have ordered little batches and then there has been a gap, so SMEs lose trade and cannot do anything. Then we order another little batch and there is a big fight about it. The Treasury has to understand the need for the drumbeat—have we managed to get the message through?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

The Treasury understands the need for that drumbeat. My noble friend is absolutely right that you cannot turn defence industry production on and off like a tap, and that we have to maintain the capability to produce ships or whatever military equipment that we need. It is also particularly important that we maintain the skilled labour and not allow those skills to be lost. My noble friend will know that the numbers of ships are now set out over the next few years, with designs for frigates and destroyers being planned for what comes next. I also draw noble Lords’ attention to the up to 12 additional AUKUS submarines. So the Treasury understands both the need for more money—which has been injected—and the need to ensure that we get that steady drumbeat, as my noble friend says.