Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussion has she has had with NATO-Partner countries on membership of the proposed Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.

The UK announced that it is exploring setting up the Multilateral Defence Mechanism with Finland, the Netherlands and other partners by 2027. This will be designed to improve value for money and increase standardisation in the defence sector through joint procurement. It will enhance collaboration among allies and improve interoperability. It will aim to increase the availability of munitions and other critical capabilities when we need them most and aim to support a more resilient and efficient defence industrial sector, underpinned by more certainty of orders from aggregated demand through joint procurement from its members.

The Chancellor regularly discusses with NATO allies the need to meet the challenge jointly of increasing expenditure on our defence and resilience.