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Defence Industrial Strategy

My Lords, I am grateful for my noble friend’s comments and note the point that he makes about the Chief Secretary smiling in the document. However, he should note that the document has been produced through tremendous collaboration with other departments—both the Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry—and, as my noble friend said, with the trade unions and industry. It must work with the rest of the machinery of government. We set out in the document how we will do that and how that will be managed within the spending review process. That gives industry clarity. Noble Lords will notice how the document sets out for each of the sectors our expected spend profile for the next 10 years, subject to spending reviews. Our strategy for general munitions takes into account the reality of the global market and the need for the United Kingdom to maintain a sovereign capability. It also considers what aspects of the supply chain within general munitions are truly central to maintaining that capability and ensuring that we invest in those aspects. We must recognise that we can acquire some of those aspects from the wider global market and improve value for money in doing so. We need to put the defence needs first; ensure that we get value for money; and make our strategic decisions on that basis.