Maria Eagle MP: Labour will reform defence procurement
Fixing defence procurement to protect UK jobs, boost local economies and maximise social value will be high on Labour’s to-do-list if they win a general election, Maria Eagle MP, the Shadow Procurement Minister, has told Prospect’s Defence Sector.
There was also a promise that a Labour government would conduct a Strategic Defence and Security Review within their first year to assess ‘the state of our armed forces, the nature of threats we face, the capabilities that we need, and try to align them with defence and security spending.’
The Labour MP was the keynote speaker at the inaugural Prospect Defence Sector AGM held in New Prospect House on 1 February.
In her opening remarks, Eagle told the AGM that she always enjoyed meeting trade union members because of the valuable insight it gives her.
“One of the great things about coming to see trade unionists who are working in industry is that they know what’s going on in their workplaces, they know what the issues are, and it gives me a much broader perspective.
“I can see the press releases; I can get the Parliamentary answers from the government; and we can see what all the annual reports say… But there’s nothing like talking to somebody who works in a place to know what’s actually going on.”
Unlocking growth
The ‘first mission’ of a new Labour government would be securing the highest sustained growth in the G7 and this, explained Eagle, would unlock the money to implement other reforms – and the defence sector would be a critical part of that.
“We’ve got to turn around this stagnation that we’ve got in our economy, where productivity isn’t growing and where people aren’t being paid more than they were in 2010 when the financial crisis hit.
“We know that the defence sector is a key part of doing that because, not only do you produce high-quality products, but you’re based in all parts of the country and across the nations.
“70% of defence jobs are located out of London and the South-East, so defence can contribute enormously to regional development and for good jobs around the country. Getting good jobs available everywhere and giving people a chance to do them is a central part of why we’re in politics.”
Prospect Defence reps with Maria Eagle MP (centre)
Defence procurement
Central to harnessing the value of the defence industries would be reforming defence procurement, Eagle said.
“The National Audit office has said it’s a broken system. The shadow team has done a piece of work that shows that they’ve wasted £15bn pounds through poor decision-making and mismanagement in the MoD.”
Eagle did concede that the government had ‘moved a little bit’ with their strategic reviews.
“There’s now supposed to be social value considerations in contracts. I think it’s a good thing that that they’ve moved away from open, lowest price, worldwide competition without having any consideration for what that means for jobs and for people’s lives in Britain.
“But I don’t know what your impression is of how their 10% to 20% look at social value in contracts is going. It didn’t seem to work very well for the fleet support ships because there were more jobs that could have been created and preserved in Britain if they’d gone with a different bid.”
The Shadow Procurement Minister acknowledged Prospect’s work on reforming defence procurement, which ‘she has been looking at with some interest.
“We want to have a better, more coherent view on how it should be done, and if it should be done differently to the way which the government are doing it. It’s difficult to formulate precise ways in which you’re going to tackle this from the outside but it’s quite clear to us that it does need to be tackled,” she said.
“John Healey, the Shadow Secretary of State, hopefully will the Defence Secretary in an incoming Labour government, has said quite clearly that procurement reform is going to be one of the most important things on his to-do list.”
Guarding against election complacency
However, while outlining the defence plans under a potential Labour government, Eagle was also empathetic that the result of a general election was far from a foregone conclusion.
“I meet a lot of people who just assume we’re going to win. The reality is that, for us to get a majority of one, we will need a 12.7% swing to Labour. That’s the biggest swing Labour will have ever achieved at any general election in the 100 years that we’ve had a Labour Party.
“Nothing works better in this country than it did in 2010 when they came in. ‘Everything’s worse’ people say to us on the doorstep. So, although we don’t assume we’re going to win, we know how important it is for the country and for the future of people in the country, and working people generally, that we do win. That’s what we’re aiming to do.”
