Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence of 25 March 2019, Official Report, column 5, what the evidential basis is for the statement that the EU Commission has publicly questioned the legality of applying article 346 to the procurement of support ships by other member states.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 April 2019 to Question 238591 to the right hon. Member for Warley (Mr John Spellar).