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Public Accounts

I am and always have been a staunch advocate of off-the-shelf defence procurement. I believe that we do not have a choice between spending on the building and supply of British equipment paid for by the British taxpayer in the UK or paying a little less by buying overseas—ultimately, it is a choice between whether we have the equipment or not. Too often we spend tax pounds on defence, which does not actually result in the equipment that our armed forces so desperately need. That is the price of protectionist procurement, and I am very much against it.