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Middle East
14. Dr. Phyllis Starkey (Milton Keynes, South-West): If he will make a statement on progress in the middle east peace process. [120883]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Peter Hain): I returned yesterday from a visit to Damascus and Beirut. I was encouraged by a Syrian and Lebanese commitment to comprehensive peace in the region. Both made it clear that full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, in compliance with United Nations Security Council resolution 425, would be welcome. I encouraged them to work with the United Nations to ensure stability in Lebanon during and after withdrawal.
Dr. Starkey: I thank my hon. Friend for that response. Does he agree that the core of the middle east peace process is the Israeli-Palestinian track? Is not he concerned at the multiple signs of a decreasing confidence among Palestinian public opinion in the peace process?
Signs of that include an open letter to the Israeli public by 130 Palestinian intellectuals; the disturbances across the west bank yesterday and over the past week, which culminated in the death of Palestinians, including Palestinian police; and recent opinion polls within the Palestine National Authority which show that President Arafat's popularity rating is at an all-time low and that only 13 per cent. of Palestinians have confidence in the ability of Prime Minister Barak to deliver a peace process.Has my hon. Friend stressed to the Israeli Government the need for them to take seriously the issues of refugees, illegal settlements and Jerusalem, so that an eventual agreement delivers real benefits to ordinary Palestinians, has their support and is therefore sustainable?
Mr. Hain: I agree with my hon. Friend. We are concerned at the serious violence yesterday in the west bank and Gaza strip, and call on both sides to show calm and restraint. Efforts should be focused on moving negotiations forward towards a just, comprehensive and lasting peace. I welcome the Israeli Government's decision to transfer three Palestinian villages east of Jerusalem to full Palestinian control, and look forward to its early implementation. Further courageous decisions by both sides will be needed if the shared goal of a comprehensive agreement is to be realised.
St. Helena
16. Mr. Bob Russell (Colchester): What progress has been made with preparatory work for legislation to restore full British citizenship to residents of the island of St. Helena. [120885]
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Robin Cook): Our White Paper last year set out our commitment to extend full British citizenship to all citizens of our overseas territories. That has been warmly welcomed throughout the overseas territories, particularly in St. Helena where it is seen as correcting an injustice. Officials of the Foreign Office and the Home Office are at an advanced stage of preparing instructions to parliamentary counsel, and we hope shortly to proceed to the drafting stage of a Bill. Pending legislation, we have already taken steps to improve access to the United Kingdom for citizens of St. Helena, such as the new three-year visas for employment or work experience.
Mr. Russell: I welcome that statement. Does the Foreign Secretary realise that next year marks the 20th anniversary of the previous Conservative Government making the citizens of St. Helena second-class citizens? In two years time, on 23 May, it will be the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the island. Will the right hon. Gentleman give a guarantee that by then full citizenship rights will have been restored to the islanders?
Mr. Cook: The hon. Gentleman has been a Member of the House for long enough to know perfectly well that no one can give a guarantee about legislation until the announcement of the Queen's Speech. My right hon. Friend the Leader of the House, who has just joined me on the Front Bench, will make sure that I do not even attempt to give such a guarantee. However, I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we are aware of that injustice and that we are determined to put it right.
Defence Procurement
3.31 pm
The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon): With permission, Madam Speaker, I should like to make a statement on two significant defence procurement decisions.
I should like to announce our decisions on a new beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile to arm the Eurofighter, and on delivering the major enhancements to our strategic airlift capability promised in the strategic defence review.
The Government are committed to the modernisation of our armed forces. We are determined to deliver improvements in defence capability, to underpin long-term security and to ensure that Britain can act as a real force for good in the world. Our armed forces deserve the best equipment. We are committed to ensuring that they have the best equipment. However, we are also committed to doing that in a cost-effective way that offers the best value for taxpayers' money. Smart procurement means making every pound count.
We are also aware of the wider context. The procurement package we have selected is clear evidence for our partners on both sides of the Atlantic of our strong commitment to enhance European defence capabilities. NATO's effectiveness depends on continuing technological improvement and on equitable burden sharing. The European defence initiative lies at the heart of that--for the good of Europe, the transatlantic alliance and the international community as a whole.
The BVRAAM is a vital component of the Eurofighter's ability to dominate the skies. It promises to be a highly accurate, highly manoeuvrable missile that will significantly improve Eurofighter's "no escape" zone, and will thus ensure that this world-class aircraft can combat all projected air threats. It will make a major contribution to the air superiority requirements of UK and coalition operations--including NATO operations. Our priority is to sustain Eurofighter's superior capability as far as possible into its service life, which will extend well towards the middle of the century. We need to secure the highest performance, at the best overall value for the taxpayer.
We have had the advantage of a strong competition with high-quality bids from Matra BAE Dynamics and Raytheon Systems Ltd. The competition has been keenly fought, and many right hon. and hon. Members have written to me and to other Ministers.
After a thorough--indeed exhaustive--process, we have concluded that the Meteor missile offered by Matra BAE Dynamics and its consortium is likely best to meet our needs over the life of the Eurofighter aircraft. The overall performance promised by Meteor will ensure that Eurofighter is equipped with the best weapon possible and will deliver the air superiority that is central to success in military operations.
Meteor is a collaborative venture with Germany, Italy and Spain--our Eurofighter partners--France and, we hope, Sweden. We plan to conclude a memorandum of understanding with those European partners by the end of the year, formally committing us all to the programme. Subject also to agreement of satisfactory terms and conditions with Matra BAE Dynamics, we will award a contract as soon as possible.
It will be a smart contract. Tightly defined breakpoints in the contract will be linked to flight tests and other demonstrable achievements. Those will focus on, first, the ram-jet motor; then guidance systems and, finally, data links and electronic counter-measures. Specific dates will be attached to each.
Those breakpoints will be auditable and capable of external independent evaluation. If they are not delivered, the contract will be terminated by the partner nations, which will recover all development costs from the contractor.
Meteor is expected to enter service with the RAF in the latter half of this decade. Meanwhile, we intend to buy more of the currently highly capable advanced-medium- range air-to-air missile, produced by Raytheon, to equip Eurofighter when it first comes into service.
Our decision will give the Royal Air Force the most advanced air-to-air missile in the world. It will be welcome to our European partners, and it will also be welcomed by our US allies as a clear indication of our commitment to a strong defence capability, available for all operations in which the United Kingdom might be involved.
Industry in the United Kingdom will also welcome the decision. Matra BAE estimates that it will create or sustain some 1,200 jobs in the UK, including at Stevenage, Bristol and Stanmore. Many of those will be high-quality jobs in new technology, and in system and software design. The United Kingdom will lead this major project.
I turn now to our strategic airlift requirements. Improving the mobility and deployability of our forces was a key theme of the strategic defence review. Events in the Balkans and, more recently, in Mozambique and Sierra Leone have underlined the high priority of increasing our strategic airlift capability. Both NATO's defence capabilities initiative and the headline goal adopted at the Helsinki European Council identify this capability as one in which Europeans need to make particular improvements.
We have explored a number of possible avenues to meet our immediate needs as well as the longer-term requirements. After careful consideration, we have determined that the best short to medium-term solution is a lease of four C17 Globemaster aircraft from the Boeing company. They will begin the first of several years of service with the RAF from the middle of next year. These flexible, capable aircraft will deliver vital, early support to our new joint rapid reaction forces. They will also make a crucial contribution to improving the airlift capabilities available for NATO and European operations and to interoperability with the United States.
Beyond that short-term lease, we have now decided that our heavy-lift needs, from the latter part of this decade onwards, would be best met by the A400M aircraft from Airbus Military company. This promises to be a superb aircraft--a new design that is specifically tailored to meet our military requirement. Moreover, the A400M will offer an extremely flexible capability, covering both the tactical and strategic roles. It offers scope for a multinational support package and substantial through-life cost savings.
At this point, our commitment to A400M is necessarily conditional, in that it is based on assumptions that are dependent both on our potential partners and on Airbus--on their commitments to sufficient numbers of aircraft at launch and the establishment of a viable programme.
We hope that we can sign a contract for the A400M urgently, but this must be based on realistic figures for purchase. All countries must balance the size of firm commitments against other priorities for defence equipment. The United Kingdom will order 25 aircraft in the A400M initial launch. That is sufficient to build a viable programme while safeguarding our industrial interests. We look forward to other partners following our lead, so that together we may confirm the launch order as soon as possible.However, affordability will also rest on confirmation of unit prices at the level offered by Airbus, commitment of the in-service date that we require and satisfactory negotiation of commercial terms and conditions. Programme launch and contract placement must also be achieved within a reasonable time frame.
This will also be a smart process. We will hold European industry to its promises. If Airbus cannot offer us and our partners an affordable and manageable programme on that basis, we will be able to meet our military requirement and protect taxpayers' interests by purchasing a fleet of Boeing C17 aircraft as an alternative. However, we look forward to success in this exciting and innovative programme.
A400M will offer great benefits for the United Kingdom. BAE Systems expects the programme to create directly 3,400 long-term, high-skill, high-wage jobs--in particular at its sites at Filton, Broughton and Prestwick--with indirect employment taking the figure to more than 10,000.
Our industry will be at the forefront of developments in the aircraft's new technology, including a carbon composite and metallic hybrid wing and a new propulsion system. The project will strengthen the European aerospace industry, and will complement the world-leading wing capabilities of British industry, which we are supporting through the major investment that we have recently announced for the development of the A3XX.
A vital and technologically innovative element of the A400M will be its engines. Airbus Military, as prime contractor, will be responsible for selecting the best power plant so that the aircraft will meet its commitments to the partner nations on performance and price. However, we will make sure that, in its decision, Airbus Military takes full account of the merits of the likely proposal from Rolls-Royce and the undeniable quality of its products.
These procurement decisions are of great importance for our armed forces and for our defence capability for several decades to come. They deliver on our promises in the strategic defence review. They make a significant contribution to Europe's defence capabilities and they are good news for British industry and for British jobs. I commend them to the House.
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