Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he has taken to protect arms exports after the UK leaves the EU.

The government’s Export Strategy addresses how government will maximise the impact of work for UK businesses and the UK economy across all sectors. In relation to defence exports, the Department for International Trade (DIT) supports the Defence Growth Partnership (DGP) which aims to secure a competitive, sustainable and globally successful UK defence sector.

The UK has a track record of success in its defence industry, achieving defence orders worth £9bn in 2017 and sustaining tens of thousands of highly skilled manufacturing and engineering-based jobs across the UK.

HMG takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. We rigorously assess every application on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.