Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2015 to the hon. Member for Reigate to Question 12151, whether he plans for the boats built to replace the nuclear submarine fleet to be built with steel manufactured in the UK.

Steel for key defence programmes, including submarines, is sourced from a range of suppliers. It is the responsibility of prime contractors to obtain the steel required to complete MOD programmes at a competitive cost, within time constraints and to the required quality.

I expect a range of UK suppliers and others will be invited to bid and provide steel for the Successor programme.