New Medium Helicopter Contract

Lord Harrington of Watford Excerpts

Wednesday 14th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

Obviously, exports are an important component of contracts that are made. On the more general point about exports, the noble Lord is right to raise the whole issue. As a Government—to be fair to the noble Baroness, she started to try to do this in the previous Government—and as a country, we need to laud our industry far more in terms of the exports that we seek to deliver across the world. As a fundamental part of the carrier strike group that went out, I went out on a number of occasions, as did a number of other Ministers and representatives of industry. We had industry workshop after industry workshop on the carrier, and on the other parts of the carrier strike group, to promote British exports and the British defence industry. The more general point that the noble Lord makes about the need for us to laud and promote our own industry in whatever sphere is exceptionally important, and we will do that.

[Lord Harrington of Watford (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, maybe I can enlighten the Minister about the export prospects for the contract with Leonardo, which amounts to about 500 aircraft by 2040 for about £400 million. Leonardo—I declare my interest as chair of Make UK, which has 1,100 defence members, including Leonardo—has been very patient about this. This contract has been going on for about four years. Leonardo is the only tender for the contract. We have been hearing about the defence investment plan for the whole of the last year and it has now been postponed until the spring. I would not be surprised if the management of Leonardo’s parent company had had enough. This has gone on for a long time and the Government should decide immediately whether they want to support UK manufacturing and defence, UK exports and 1,200 jobs in the south-west.

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

We are in constant discussions with Leonardo about this particular contract. However, the noble Lord will have heard what I said: the final decision in respect of the contract with Leonardo will be part of the defence investment plan. He makes the point that other noble Lords have made, including the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, that alongside that we are doing all we can with the additional money that we are spending to support British industry and promote British jobs. That is part of the policy of the Government, and it is what we are doing.