Why is the industry ours to support?
I resent the notion that unless the MOD buys overpriced, half finished and normally late arriving products from the South West of England, the economy will collapse and the world will stop turning.
Either they can offer a high quality, value for money product, delivered on time and with good aftersales service, or they can't. If they can't, the MOD propping them up is only delaying the inevitable.
Because that is their job. It is not the MOD supporting British Industry, its the Government...and that is their job. Why should the tax payers money (your money and my money) help to provide some yank in the U.S. with a job and financial security?