Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 20 February (HL13628), whether the UK is expected to become a net defence importer in the next five years.

Further to my earlier response, the Ministry of Defence has not specifically undertaken this type of analysis. According to official data from the UK Defence and Security Organisation in 2017 the UK won defence orders worth £9 billion and, on a 10-year rolling basis, remains the second largest global defence exporter.