Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on the UK defence and military aerospace industry of the UK leaving the EU.

The Ministry of Defence is working closely with defence industry and other Government Departments to understand the implications and opportunities presented by the UK's departure from the European Union.

The European defence sector is already closely integrated; leading companies have a presence right across Europe, and across the UK. It is worth noting that current major European collaborative capability projects, such as the Typhoon programme, are managed bilaterally or with groups of partners, rather than through the EU.