Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has plans to use the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement to exempt defence contracts from international public procurement rules after the end of the transition period.

Since 2012, the Governments default position of defence procurement has been open competition wherever appropriate to obtain the best capability for our Armed Forces, whilst achieving value for money for the taxpayer.

The Ministry of Defence is leading the cross-Government review into the UK’s defence and security industrial sectors to ensure our approach enables competitive, innovative and world-class defence and security industries. The terms of any national security exemption will be part of that review.