Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when negotiations with the government of Bahrain on the construction of a UK naval base in that country began.

The UK has had a Naval Base in Bahrain since the 1950s. The base provides naval and logistics facilities that are used by British Forces and that support our basing and operations in the Gulf region. Negotiations to further enhance and improve these existing facilities with the Government of Bahrain commenced in September 2012.