The Labour Party is demanding greater protection of jobs in the
defence sector by calling on the government to adopt a
"British-built by default" approach, intended to boost
manufacturing within the UK supply chain.
Labour says a new threshold is needed for equipment to be sourced
outside of the UK, requiring proof that defence projects cannot
be built under similar terms in Britain. In addition, the Party
is calling on ministers to report annually on the proportion of
defence spending going through British companies, and to improve
procurement rules to promote prosperity in supply chain
businesses throughout the UK's towns, regions, and industries
such as steel.
The Party accuse the Conservative government of breaking promises
made to the Armed Forces and wasting taxpayer money through its
decade-long policy of open competition by default that has seen
the UK buying off-the shelf defence equipment from overseas.
New analysis by Labour shows:
- Over £6 billion of allocated spending in government's
Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper is going on
off-the-shelf purchases of surveillance aircraft from overseas.
- A naval contract worth £1.5 billion for Fleet Support Ships
has been unfulfilled since 2018, due to Ministerial indecision
about making the contract British-led.
- 30,000 defence industry jobs lost since 2010 under the
Conservatives
MP, Leader of the Labour Party, ahead of a
visit to Plymouth, said:
"Prioritising British businesses through defence spending is not
only investment in jobs, but in our communities, and a more
secure economy.
Under this Prime Minister, we have seen broken promises and
dither and delay, at the expense of UK supply chain businesses
and taxpayer's money.
We cannot go back to business as usual. Labour will protect jobs
in the defence sector, harness the skills and talents of our
workers, and will deliver value for money for British people, to
ensure a prosperous recovery out of the pandemic."
MP, Labour's Shadow Defence
Secretary, added:
"The Prime Minister has already broken promises made to military
personnel by cutting 10,000 posts in the Army. On the Tories
watch, we have also lost tens of thousands of jobs across the
industry and wasted time on key contracts.
Of course, there will be essential equipment or systems which
makes strategic sense for Britain to develop with allies or to
buy direct from overseas, but we want to see a much higher bar
for this.
When done well, defence spending has a multiplier effect,
strengthening our UK economy. Covid has exposed the risks of
relying on foreign supply chains. Labour's "British by default"
policy would strengthen the UK's sovereignty and security."
Ends
Notes to Editors
, Minister for Defence, during Defence Oral
Questions 26 November 2018, said: ???As I have said on many
occasions, the fleet solid support ships are not classed as
warships. There is no compelling national security reason to
consider UK shipbuilding capacity as part of that procurement.???
In October 2020, the government announced the contract would be
???British-led???, leaving the door open for some of the project
to be built overseas. https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-11-26/debates/0D9FEEA1-FE67-4E3A-B18C-484C4877917D/DefenceIndustryScotland?highlight=compelling#contribution-F984A058-1D0E-4342-AFA5-EAF4943422C9
Fleet Solid Support ships will be built with British involvement,
https://des.mod.uk/fleet-solid-support-british-built/
Statement to the House on the Integrated Review, 19
November 2020 - ???The returns will go far beyond our armed
forces, and from aerospace to autonomous vehicles, these
technologies have a vast array of civilian applications, opening
up new vistas of economic progress, creating 10,000 jobs every
year???40,000 in total???levelling up across our country, and
reinforcing our Union.???
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-11-19/debates/CA347B2B-EE02-40DF-B5CE-1E8FAA07139E/IntegratedReview?highlight=10%20000%20jobs#contribution-E8C6762F-1935-4B89-B5AB-D3986AD79481
?? Defence projects outsourced overseas include:
- ??3 billion on P8
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/02/04/britain-receives-first-poseidon-aircraft-in-bid-to-restore-submarine-hunting-muscle/
- ??1.5 billion on Wedge Tail although that was for five
airframes and we have now reduced our order to three.
https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/wedgetail-to-be-rafs-new-early-warning-radar-aircraft/
- Over ??500 million on Rivet Joint
https://www.flightglobal.com/pictures-first-raf-rivet-joint-aircraft-arrives-in-uk/111651.article
- ??1.14 billion is the current cost of the delayed PROTECTOR
programme, https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2020/01/24/british-defence-ministry-reveals-why-a-drone-program-now-costs-245m-extra/
According to ADS, the defence industry currently provides 132,000
direct job, down from 162,000 in 2010. Taken together aerospace,
defence, security & resiliency, and space sectors support up
to 1 million jobs in the supply chain in the UK
https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/industry-issues/facts-figures/
