Last week, during the Queen’s Speech, safeguarding national security was flagged as a priority. During the debate on the address yesterday Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP, Foreign Secretary, very much reiterated this:
‘In the spending review and the strategic defence and security review published at the end of last year, we took clear decisions to invest in our security and safeguard our prosperity’.
The Foreign Secretary also went on to highlight that ‘Britain’s national security is indivisible from its economic security’.
The UK has a world-class defence and security industry which is of strategic importance, helping to protect the country and its citizens while also contributing to national prosperity by sustaining high-value jobs, driving skills development and delivering high-tech exports. In 2015 the UK’s defence and security industry generated a turnover of £33bn, directly employing over 210,000 people including some 6,400 apprentices and trainees.
The UK’s national security is safeguarded by these world-class defence and security industries. The leading-edge technology, training and logistical support supplied by these sectors provide the UK armed forces and security and law enforcement agencies with the capabilities required to combat security threats to the UK.
In order to sustain the industrial base that supplies the capabilities underpinning UK national security, continuing to increase defence and security exports will be vital.
