As many of you will have seen on the news, the Prime Minister announced yesterday we have a agreed a major, new security partnership with the US and Australia (AUKUS). He went on to make a further statement on this agreement in the House of Commons today, which was welcomed by MPs on both sides of the House.
I believe this deal builds on our shared interests and values as leading democracies, and while we are separated geographically, this will never affect our ties as natural allies, who will now be co-operating on an even closer scale.
I know how important our global role and security is to constituents, who have been regularly highlighting our responsibility to continue to work with allies across the globe, and various foreign policy matters they have very serious concerns about.
This partnerships will strengthen our security collaboration, foster deeper integration on defence science and technology, and see Australia draw on British and US expertise to help them acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. With rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, this is certainly the sensible step to take.
I am pleased this new alliance will join us even closer together with some of our oldest friends and allies, helping us protect citizens at home and overseas against new and emerging threats.
This deal will also create hundreds of skilled jobs across the UK, further boosting our Levelling Up agenda to create opportunities across the country.
During his statement yesterday, the PM said:
"We are opening a new chapter in our friendship, and the first task of this partnership will be to help Australia acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, emphasising of course that the submarines in question will be powered by nuclear reactors, not armed with nuclear weapons, and our work will be fully in line with our non-proliferation obligations.
"This will be one of the most complex and technically demanding projects in the world, lasting for decades and requiring the most advanced technology.
"... together with the other opportunities from AUKUS, creating hundreds of highly skilled jobs across the United Kingdom – including in Scotland, the North of England and the Midlands – taking forward this Government’s driving purpose of levelling up across the whole country."
To read the full statement, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-on-aukus-partnershi…
To view the Government's page on this partnership, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-us-and-australia-launch-new-secur…