Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release on the award of a £1.6 billion contract to Thales in Belfast for the manufacture of lightweight-multirole missiles, published on 2 March 2025, whether his Department considered procuring the contract through a competitive tendering process under the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him to Question 40323 on 28 March 2025.