Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the effect on defence procurement of the UK leaving the EU without having a trade deal with the EU.

The existing scheme of UK procurement rules, which implement the EU public procurement directives, will be preserved under the Repeal Bill when the UK leaves the European Union, with relevant adjustments necessary to ensure legal operability. This will give legal certainty and continuity to businesses, contracting authorities, and employees, on day one of Exit.

We will use opportunities offered by our exit from the EU to carefully consider longer-term options for the UK's defence procurement rules. However it would be wrong to set out unilateral positions in advance of the negotiating process, and we cannot provide further details about the possible outcomes at this stage.