Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Wrigley Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I welcome the Mayor of London’s crackdown. The Metropolitan police have made hundreds of arrests and recovered thousands of phones, and mobile phone theft has fallen. I agree with her that there is more to do, and we must work with the tech industry in order to do it. If we can reduce the value of stolen phones, it will help to break the business models that drive theft. We are committed to working with the industry, and are willing to consider any further necessary action to drive down that crime.

[Martin Wrigley (Newton Abbot) (LD)]

Q5.  Yesterday, the Chancellor announced £2 billion of funding for UK sovereign artificial intelligence and quantum capabilities. The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee was told that Government procurement will adapt to encourage UK companies to develop sovereign AI systems for Government use. In the light of those positive events, will the Prime Minister ensure that key digital systems in health, defence and policing are made sovereign and retendered to UK companies, not to politically motivated US companies such as Palantir?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Gentleman says, the Chancellor set out yesterday the huge economic opportunities of innovation and AI. We have put £5 billion behind British start-ups, and we will launch our sovereign AI unit with £500 million to help AI businesses start and grow. We are investing the £2 billion that he refers to in our quantum capabilities so that we can be the first country in the world to roll-out quantum computers at scale. Procurement must be the launchpad for start-ups, and we are determined to deliver that.