Strategic Defence and Security Review

Nadhim Zahawi Excerpts

Tuesday 19th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Fundamentally, yes, there is a future for defence training at St Athan, as I have said. We need to make sure that more is done on a tri-service basis and that more is concentrated in fewer places. St Athan is uniquely well qualified for that but the current private finance initiative was not working—the MOD could not get it to work in the way that it wanted—so we have to start again. This is not the end of the road.

[Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)]

Cyber-security is a relatively new threat. Are we lagging behind other countries?

[The Prime Minister]

With the announcements that we have made in the national security strategy and today, I do not think that we will be lagging behind. We have considerable expertise both in our private sector and with GCHQ, and this is an opportunity to build some competitive advantage.