A very important day for the South West Region in Westminster!
A very important day for the South West Region in Westminster!
Chris Wardman and I were delighted to be invited to join Ian Roome MP, member of the Defence Select Committee and Min DRI Luke Pollard, at a defence roundtable in Westminster.
This roundtable brought together Parliamentarians, defence primes, SMEs, clusters, academics, and MOD to discuss how the UK can strengthen and grow its defence industrial base, as well as launch the refreshed Great South West Defence Prospectus produced by Copper Turtle.
Home to critical defence assets, as well as some of the UK’s most significant concentrations of defence capability, over 42k people are employed in defence, a 17% growth since 2017.
Commitment to the UK Supply Chain
• DIP – no clear timescales, but a commitment to delivery in months.
• Ensuring sovereign capability and resilience in critical defence areas.
• Reducing the number of MoD procurement frameworks.
• Defence Office of Small Business Growth fully formed by the end 2026.
Innovation Ecosystems
• National Centre for Marine Autonomy, WholeShip's National Drone Hub, BattleLab (only UK NATO T&E space)
• The need to unlock regulation around autonomy to enable innovation.
• Understand what we already hold and then how to sweat the assets.
Investment
• Challenges in ethical banking policies, so SMEs in defence are debanked.
• Need for clearer government guidance to financial institutions.
• Defence Financial Investment Strategy (DFIS), coming out after the DIP
• DFIS to act as a more informed conduit to enable connections with investors.
• NAD proposition – creating investable opportunities for allies to invest in.
Defence Clusters
• The South West Regional Defence & Security Cluster model and its successes, was endorsed by an observation from Tristram Kirkwood OBE ADC. "What we have in this room is extraordinary, it feels normal to collaborate. Across the country we don't always see the same vision and energy that we have here, along with a clear understanding about what can be done".
Growth
• The UK has an ambition to increase defence exports, but how do we make sure we remove barriers for all sectors and industries that might be able to use next generation technology at different stages of development?
Skills
• DTECs have already been announced as part of the DIS to address critical skills shortages. Today, Mark Bolton launched the Yeovil College DTEC Prospectus (also produced by Copper Turtle), highlighting the strength of the bid from the college to support the defence skills growth necessary for the future.
