Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the feasibility of using Mount Pleasant Airfield as a forward mounting base for increased activity in Antarctica.

The Ministry of Defence undertakes regular assessments of its future requirements for its basing in the South Atlantic. The Department is supporting the FCDO to publish a UK Antarctic strategy by the end of this year, which will set the Government’s aims and ambitions for Antarctica for the next five years.