To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on defence and aerospace manufacturing capability in the North West of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered on
19 October 2017
The Ministry of Defence is working closely with the defence industry and other Government Departments to understand the implications and opportunities presented by the UK's departure from the European Union.
The European defence sector is already closely integrated; leading companies have a presence right across Europe, and across the UK, including the North West. It is worth noting that current major European collaborative capability projects, such as the Typhoon programme, are managed bilaterally or with groups of partners, rather than through the EU.
Through our future partnership with the European Union, we want to explore how best to ensure that our industries can continue working together to deliver the capabilities that we need to protect the UK and its allies and partners.