Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to preserve the UK's alliance with its Five Eyes partners.

Our relationship with the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is, and will remain, of utmost importance to the United Kingdom. The relationship is steeped in history and underpinned by mutual trust, respect and shared values. The defence cooperation between our Five Eyes partners is collectively the broadest, deepest and most advanced of any grouping of nations. The relationship is and will remain mutually supportive; we each make a significant and enduring contribution to dealing with the global security challenges which we collectively face. We have a long-standing intelligence relationship, a burden sharing approach to operations, peace and security, and we are continually working towards long-term interoperability.

The Secretary of State for Defence has an excellent relationship with each of the Defence Secretaries from the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; they talk and meet regularly - both bi-laterally and as a group. He is committed to preserving and deepening this relationship.