Watching recorded coverage of Defence Questions on BBC Parliament the other evening (yes, I was very bored), it struck me that nearly half of the alloted time was spent debating UK defence industry matters. An awful lot of "jobs in my constituency this" and "training of skilled engineers that". It struck me that most of that discussion should have been addressed to the Business rather than the Defence ministers. Wouldn't we avoid a lot of our standard pitfalls if the MOD simply tried to buy the best it could for its money, while UK industry (separately) did its best to ensure that that meant choosing a British product? Having the MOD as poacher and gamekeeper has patently not been working.
Last edited by Easy Street; 23rd Jul 2012 at 20:26.