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Defence Procurement

The hon. Gentleman is asking me to put the cart before the horse, but if we are to have a strategic defence review and consider future requirements we must not pre-empt that by making assumptions beforehand. However, he knows that we have been sceptical about the matter raised, and that remains the case. The urgent operational requirement—UOR—has undoubtedly frequently saved the day in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the Treasury is now sabre rattling to the effect that it will not continue to bless the recent scale of procurement that has taken place through the UOR system, and there has been media comment that it is becoming a significant part of the procurement process. That further underlines the need both for a review of the strategic environment and for the overall planning methodology that we use for our procurement processes to be improved. We cannot continue to get away with plugging the gaps on such a scale through the UOR or a similar system. We have also heard warnings from within the armed forces.