LACK OF OFFSETS WILL REDUCE BRITAIN TO “A MINOR PLAYER” IN DEFENCE EXPORTS

Britain will become a net importer of defence equipment for the first time in centuries by 2022, a report says. The absence of a robust offset policy is one of the contributing factors.

Ben Moores, author of a report by the research firm IHS Markit, said: “Current UK defence industrial policy is to acquire capability at the lowest possible cost, often regardless of potential domestic partnership or offset work. This policy led to the end of the vehicle industry over the past decade and is now set to see the UK’s aviation sector lose large segments through lack of domestic offset from foreign manufacturers. Brexit will accelerate this trend.”

The switch, he says, from net exporter to net importer within the next three years is likely to compound concerns about the UK’s shrinking manufacturing base.

In five years’ time the UK will be only a minor player in the global export market.

Mr Moores told The Times that it was a scandal that the government had spent tens of billions of dollars with U.S. companies in recent years without insisting that they base more than a small percentage of genuine manufacturing jobs, as opposed to service contracts and other roles, in the UK. This pattern of buying off-theshelf platforms and systems from America had been the main factor contributing to the loss of sovereign skill sets in the UK defence industry, he commented.

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