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Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee

Fifth Special Report - Refreshing our approach? Updating the Integrated Review: Government Response to the Committee’s Fifth Report

Published 31 May 2023

Foreign Affairs Committee Update to the UK's Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to Fifth Report - Refreshing our approach? Updating the Integrated Review.

This is the government's response, published 31 May 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".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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