PM warned defence industry projects worth £10bn risk being left in limbo if crucial review is delayed
Defence industry projects worth £10billion risk being left in limbo if a crucial review is delayed, the Prime Minister has been warned.
Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons defence select committee, has written to Boris Johnson calling for the Government to publish urgently a much-anticipated review of security, defence, development and foreign policy that had been expected this year.
He argues a delay would cost the Ministry of Defence £3billion and that projects including cyber defences and autonomous air systems could be put on hold.
Risk: The programmes include an upgrade of the Warrior tank by Lockheed Martin UK worth £1.3 billion
The programmes include Ajax reconnaissance vehicles from General Dynamics Land Systems worth £4.6billion; eight-wheeled infantry vehicles made by Rheinmetall Bae Systems Land in Telford valued at £2.8billion, and an upgrade of the Warrior tank by Lockheed Martin UK worth £1.3 billion.
Ellwood – who bravely went to the aid of PC Keith Palmer, fatally stabbed in Westminster in 2017 – said: ‘Regardless of who occupies the White House, US attention will actively turn to addressing the paralysis of Western unity and resolve in countering increasing global instability.
‘Only with a completed review could we hope to promote our vision and influence US thinking with any sense of credibility. The West is less united, more risk-averse than any time since the Cold War – our adversaries are taking advantage.’
Long-term spending decisions have been put on hold by Chancellor Rishi Sunak amid the pandemic but Ellwood argues the defence review should be exempt.