Defence Industrial Base
Debate between Lord Spellar and Lord Coaker(2 weeks, 1 day ago)
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Lord Coaker (Lab)
The noble Lord makes a point the Government themselves would make: access to the €150 billion Security Action for Europe fund is really important. Of course, we will act in the best interests of the UK and ensure that British industry is protected as far as we possibly can. The only reason we can access that money, under whatever terms we are able to negotiate and discuss with our European friends, is because we have a security and defence partnership. Without that partnership, which the British Government and the Prime Minister negotiated successfully with the EU, we would not be able to bid for the money or be involved at all. So I take the noble Lord’s point, but we should also think that the Government have done well to negotiate the security and defence partnership.
Lord Spellar (Lab)
My Lords, do the Government themselves not also have to place orders with British companies? Like me, does the Minister regret that the previous Administration gave the contract for the fleet solid support ships to a publicly supported, publicly owned foreign shipyard, to the detriment of work in the United Kingdom? Does he also accept that the defence industry depends on a supply chain that supplies both civilian and military use? Therefore, should we not be looking at rebuilding British industry and buying British?
Lord Coaker (Lab)
My noble friend makes an important point. He will know that one of the actions of the Government was to see the fleet solid support ships now built in Belfast. That is a really important success that the Government have had. But he is also right that we must ensure that, as far as we can, we rebuild the sovereign capability of our country to have the defence industry it needs. Let me be clear: the sovereign capability of our own industry is now a national security requirement. One thing that Ukraine has forced us to do is to wake up to the fact that we need our own industry, as well as depending on others.
UK Defence: Hypersonic Missiles
Debate between Lord Spellar and Lord Coaker(3 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Lord Coaker (Lab)
The noble Lord raises very important points, but some of them will have to wait for the outcome of the defence review. He mentioned Sky Sabre. We are increasing the number of Sky Sabre units to nine, which is a significant increase, so we are not waiting for the outcome of the defence review. We are upgrading all the Type 45 destroyer Sea Viper missiles to make them more capable of dealing with ballistic missile attack. Again, we are not waiting for the outcome of the defence review.
We have a European project, the Diamond Project, where information is shared between missile defence systems across Europe. Again, we not waiting for the outcome of the defence review. The Sky Shield defence initiative looks at information sharing and capability. Again, we are not waiting for the defence review. But the noble Lord is absolutely right to say that air defence is being looked at by the Government and being looked at by all of our eyes, because it is becoming increasingly important not just with respect to defence on the battlefield but with respect to homeland defence as well. Clearly, all of us are going to have to look more carefully at that.
Lord Spellar (Lab)
Does the Minister accept, notwithstanding the importance of upgrading our air defence, that our fundamental response to intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear capabilities will still be our nuclear deterrent capacity?
Lord Coaker (Lab)
My noble friend knows that this Government, like the previous Government, fully support the nuclear deterrent as an important way of deterring our adversaries at the most serious and strategic level. We are currently developing the successor programme to upgrade and renew that nuclear capability. This Government and previous Governments have consistently said that the nuclear deterrent is right at the heart of our defence posture and will remain so.