Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Government press release entitled New Storm Shadow and missile cooperation to boost jobs as UK and France reboot defence relationship, published on 9 July 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of deepening UK and France nuclear planning and research cooperation on UK sovereign nuclear capability.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The UK and France work closely together on a range of nuclear research and technology matters, including as part of the 2010 TEUTATES Treaty. Our enhanced cooperation with France will not affect the UK’s sovereign nuclear capability which has always been and continues to be completely operationally independent.
There are mechanisms in place to ensure UK and French officials can engage on nuclear research with the appropriate levels of security.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled New Storm Shadow and missile cooperation to boost jobs as UK and France reboot defence relationship, published on 9 July 2025, what assessment he has made of the security level that French officials will be cleared to in order to engage with the UK on nuclear research in line with the UK-France Nuclear Partnership.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The UK and France work closely together on a range of nuclear research and technology matters, including as part of the 2010 TEUTATES Treaty. Our enhanced cooperation with France will not affect the UK’s sovereign nuclear capability which has always been and continues to be completely operationally independent.
There are mechanisms in place to ensure UK and French officials can engage on nuclear research with the appropriate levels of security.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the press release entitled New Storm Shadow and missile cooperation to boost jobs as UK and France reboot defence relationship, published on 9 July 2025, in what ways cooperation between the UK and France on nuclear research will deepen.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The UK and France work closely together on a range of nuclear research and technology matters, including as part of the 2010 TEUTATES Treaty. Our enhanced cooperation with France will not affect the UK’s sovereign nuclear capability which has always been and continues to be completely operationally independent.
There are mechanisms in place to ensure UK and French officials can engage on nuclear research with the appropriate levels of security.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 procurement by the United States Air Force of the E2D Hawkeye aircraft on the intelligence-gathering capability of the (a) US and (b) NATO.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Procurement decisions by any other NATO nation are fully a matter for that nation. NATO standardisation ensures interoperability of other nations equipment with our own sovereign military capabilities.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 28 of his Department's policy paper entitled Security and defence partnership between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, published on 19 May 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of holding regular exchanges on space security on UK space sovereign capability.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Security and Defence Partnership (SDP) agreed with the EU will strengthen NATO, the cornerstone of the UK’s defence. It will complement our core European bilateral partnerships – particularly France, Germany, Poland, Italy, and Norway.
The SDP will enable dialogue and cooperation on key issues like Ukraine, space, hybrid, maritime security and resilience of critical infrastructure. These exchanges will be flexible and scalable according to need. For example, we are working to ensure that our personnel and assets can more easily move across the European continent in times of both peace and crisis, including exploring participation in PESCO projects that bolster our NATO warfighting plans.
Implementation will be overseen jointly by the Defence Secretary and the Foreign Secretary. The detail of the terms and the modalities for implementation are under discussion, including any exploration of an Administrative Arrangement with the European Defence Agency, UK participation in additional EU crisis management activity and attendance at working level policy and information exchanges or secondments.
Any commitment– whether financial or non-financial – will provide value to the UK taxpayer and deliver the UK’s defence.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether UK sovereign capability will be considered in the procurement of a replacement for the SA80 rifle.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Project GRAYBURN aims to replace the L85 family of rifles with a new weapon system fit for future warfare. This will be achieved in partnership with industry by growing UK sovereign manufacturing skills and infrastructure.
The Ministry of Defence is committed to investing in our nation’s prosperity and supporting and developing our competitive industrial base through provision of education, skills and jobs. The Defence Industrial Strategy will articulate how best Defence can contribute to sovereign operational independence, including in the production of small arms.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to increase UK sovereign capability in small arms production.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Project GRAYBURN aims to replace the L85 family of rifles with a new weapon system fit for future warfare. This will be achieved in partnership with industry by growing UK sovereign manufacturing skills and infrastructure.
The Ministry of Defence is committed to investing in our nation’s prosperity and supporting and developing our competitive industrial base through provision of education, skills and jobs. The Defence Industrial Strategy will articulate how best Defence can contribute to sovereign operational independence, including in the production of small arms.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has taken steps to create a sovereign hypersonic missile capability.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Building on previous research and development, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has established a Programme Team - Team Hypersonics (UK) - to cohere MOD, industry and academia around the development of a sovereign hypersonic offensive strike capability.
Team Hypersonics (UK) has established the Hypersonic Technologies and Capability Development Framework (HTCDF). This bespoke £1 billion Commercial Agile Route to Market is the mechanism to facilitate a spiralled approach to technology development through to a sovereign capability. Over 120 suppliers including defence primes, small and medium enterprises (SME) and academic institutions are now signed up. Hypersonics is included in UK contribution to AUKUS Pillar 2, collaborating trilaterally to increase the pace of innovation alongside our allies as part of the Hypersonic Flight Test and Experiment Project Arrangement (HyFLiTE).
With these enablers in place, the testing of critical sovereign-designed and manufactured missile sub-system technologies continues, including a novel hypersonic propulsion system. Several contracts have been awarded and several invitations to tender have been released to develop a range of technologies. These contracts and future ITTs will allow the development of technical demonstrators and onwards into a capability.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on developing a sovereign defence space capability in the United Kingdom; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of this initiative on (a) national security and (b) military operations in space.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The Ministry of Defence is working closely with other Departments to develop sovereign space capabilities, and with our Allies and partners.
We use the 'own-access-collaborate' framework to identify where the UK must own sovereign capabilities, access services from the commercial sector, or collaborate with our Allies and partners to secure military capabilities. This is achieved through the SKYNET military satellite communications programme and, most recently, the development of UK sovereign earth observation capabilities.
Asked by: Richard Baker (Labour - Glenrothes and Mid Fife)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) supply chain resilience and (b) sovereign capability in the procurement strategy for Programme Euston.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Programme Euston will draw on a broad range of suppliers to deliver the infrastructure needs at HMNB Clyde.
Programme Euston will engage with UK based and international suppliers to assess whether they have the required capability and capacity to deliver. No decisions have been made as this time.