HC Deb 15 November 1989 vol 160 cc293-4W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what effect he expects the completion of the internal market to have on warships procurement policy after 1992.

Mr. Neubert

The completion of the internal market does not directly affect policy for the procurement of warships, since member states are allowed under the treaty of Rome to take the measures they consider necessary in the area of procurement of certain defence equipment. It may have an indirect effect in terms of the wider impact of industrial restructuring by our suppliers.