Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
Fifth Report - Refreshing our approach? Updating the Integrated Review
Published 18 Dec 2022
Paragraph 37
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee Update to the UK's Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Integrated Review was right to highlight the UK’s increasing interest in the Indo-Pacific. However, this refresh presents an opportunity to reset and clarify the UK’s relationships beyond the Indo-Pacific and specifically in the Euro-Atlantic. The Government should explain if, and how, it expects the UK to contribute to European security while maintaining the Indo-Pacific tilt, particularly at a time of considerably constrained resources. The IR refresh should also explain in more detail what policy objective the Government hopes to deliver with the Indo-Pacific tilt, or work away from the term “tilt”, and set out what the benefits to the UK will be.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Fifth Report - Refreshing our approach? Updating the Integrated Review (HC 882), paragraph 37, 18 December 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 31 May 2023 (deadline 18 February 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says IR2023 has "considered and taken on board the proposals put forward by the FAC", agreeing with most recommendations and partially agreeing with two.
- On resilience, it agrees and points to a new National Security Council sub-committee on resilience, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, as the regular cross-government meeting, and a Director of Resilience in the Cabinet Office.
- On China, it partially agrees. It says it is "impossible, impractical, and unwise to sum up China in one word", such as "threat", and that it will "always put national security first" where tensions arise.
- On defence spending, it says it will maintain the 2% of GDP commitment and aim for 2.5% "as the fiscal and economic situation allows".
- On the Middle East, it partially agrees and states that the Middle East and North Africa "is not being deprioritised".