Select committee: Defence Committee
Conclusion 15
Sixth Report - Special Relationships? US, UK and NATO
Published 7 Mar 2023
Paragraph 93
Addressed to Ministry of Defence
Defence Committee US, UK and NATO All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Defence industrial capacity needs to be both resilient and scalable. In order to secure supply chains the Secretary of State acknowledged that the Government needs to address skills shortages as well as committing to significant orders alongside allies 36 Special Relationships? US, UK and NATO to ensure that production lines are maintained in the long term and to replace stockpiles of munitions in the short term. Capacity (including redundant capacity) is also key if industry is to be able to ramp up production.
From: Defence Committee, Sixth Report - Special Relationships? US, UK and NATO (HC 184), paragraph 93, 7 March 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 22 June 2023 (deadline 7 May 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response welcomes the Committee's recognition of the UK-US relationship, and states that it "agrees" on several points, including the value of that relationship, closer allied engagement and the importance of effective deterrence.
- On the US relationship, the Department "agrees that the UK derives great value from the US relationship", and "agrees on the need for even closer engagement and alignment between close allies".
- On US regulatory barriers, it says they are a "significant barrier", and that "work is underway" with the US Administration and Congress "to make some headway in pursuing reforms or exemptions for the UK and Australia".
- On munitions and industrial capacity, it states it will update the Committee on plans for industrial capacity and munitions stockpiles "in due course". It does not state that it will produce the action plan the Committee recommended.
- On the EU, it supports NATO-EU cooperation but states: "we will not support any measures that undermine our sovereignty over our own armed forces", or that lead to competition or duplication with NATO.