Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the US Government's decision to launch a review into the AUKUS partnership on jobs.

AUKUS is a landmark security and defence partnership with two of our closest allies. It is one of the most strategically important partnerships in decades, supporting peace and security in the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic, while also delivering jobs and economic growth in communities across all three nations.

AUKUS holds bipartisan support in the United States, and we are engaging effectively with the US Administration at every level. The Defence Secretary and Foreign Secretary regularly discuss AUKUS with their US and Australian counterparts and will continue to do so during the review process.

It is understandable that a new administration would want to review its approach to such a major partnership, just as the UK has done through the Lovegrove Review. The UK will continue to work closely with the US and Australia at all levels to maximise the benefits and opportunities which AUKUS presents for our three nations.

AUKUS has already strengthened our collective defence industries, generating thousands of new jobs. In the UK, we expect over 21,000 people to be working on SSN-AUKUS programmes at its peak, both in UK shipyards and across the supply chain.

The commitments made in the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) will only serve to enhance AUKUS. Continuous submarine production, through investments in Barrow and Raynesway, will enable us to produce a submarine every 18 months. This will allow us to grow our nuclear powered submarine fleet by up to 12 (SSNs), with a final decision made through the Defence Investment Plan. This will reinforce our Continuous at-Sea Deterrent (CASD) and position the UK to deliver the AUKUS programme with the US and Australia.