Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment she has made of the merits of UK participation in EU defence structures after the UK has left the EU.

As we leave the EU, we remain committed to playing a leading role on Euro-Atlantic security. NATO remains the cornerstone of our defence. Nonetheless, the UK and the EU will continue to face common threats, which are evolving and growing in complexity, and we share the same values. That is why we have agreed the outline terms, through the Political Declaration, of a flexible and scalable future UK-EU security partnership to cooperate as a sovereign third country with EU partners on a case-by-case basis where there is a clear shared interest.