Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reconfiguring the European defence industrial base to facilitate (a) collaborative development, (b) shared production and (c) integrated logistics.

At this critical moment for the security of our continent, it is important that we work together with our European allies to strengthen our collective defence industrial base, recognising that the UK is an essential part of Europe’s security.

As part of our recent Security and Defence partnership with the EU, we have agreed to explore closer co-operation and joint investment in our defence industrial base. In the first instance, the partnership creates a basis for broad consultations on defence readiness and defence industry. Preventing the fragmentation of the European defence markets is in the shared interests of the UK and the EU, both for our collective security and to allow our industry to collaborate, avoid duplication and increase standardisation.