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Defence: Capital Investment

Asked by Callum AndersonLabourMinistry of DefenceTabled Answered 8 July 2026UIN 14634

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the level of private capital investment required to meet the UK’s defence capability requirements over the next decade.

Answered by Luke Pollard

The Government is making a generational investment in defence. The Defence Investment Plan is backed by £298 billion over the next four years and sets out the major investment choices needed to deliver the Strategic Defence Review.

Our ambition is to make the UK the most attractive place in the world to invest in defence, security and resilience. The UK has a strong defence industrial base, a growing pipeline of opportunities, and a leading financial sector that can help support capability, resilience, and growth.

Public investment will remain the foundation of UK defence capability. However, private capital has an important role to play in helping innovative companies scale, strengthening supply chains, supporting infrastructure and accelerating delivery where this offers value for money, meets operational need and is deliverable.

Later this year, the Ministry of Defence will publish a Defence Finance and Investment Strategy, setting out how Government will work with investors to mobilise private capital in support of defence capability, resilience and growth.

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