- Defence policy
- Equipment and support
- Modernising defence
- Aviation
- Marine
- Land vehicles
- Security
- HR and training
- Defence estates (DIO)
News updates
Twitter updates
Facebook
Email
Print
Commons defence committee to quiz BAE/EADS merger
25 September 2012
David Cameron has already spoken to French and German leaders according to the Guardian, with a Number 10 spokesman confirming discussions were also underway with the companies "to ensure that the UK's public interest is properly protected".
The defence committee is now to ask its own questions about the deal, with UK capability, British jobs and overseas arms sales likely to be on the agenda.
"The merger of two such large defence contractors would have a significant and strategic impact on their relationships with UK, US and European governments," the committee said in a statement.
"It could also radically alter the defence industrial base in these countries."
Earlier news has indicated that BAE could abandon plans if the US military held too many objections to the merger. But former Defence Secretary Liam Fox has warned against being overly cautious, arguing that a merger should be considered objectively.
MPs on the defence committee, which is chaired by Conservative James Arbuthnot, are expected to call senior Whitehall figures to give evidence.
According to the Daily Mail, MoD procurement chief Bernard Gray could be quizzed on David Cameron's support for the merger. And Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood could also be called on to answer questions about his links with BAE and Morgan Stanley – the merchant bank advising the company.
HAVE YOUR SAY
25 September 2012
The last big British company sold off to Europe.....Well done...I wounder how many M.Ps have shares in B.A.E...
Steven h - Sheffield
25 September 2012
First of all i will not pretend to have a great deal knowledge on BAe or EADS but can someone tell me where the stategic interest to the uk would lie in any future merger.
The thought that a pre-dominant german/french company would have any inclination to maintain hi-tec uk jobs is somewhat unlikely.
What i have never understood is why BAe concentrated solely on military contracts when history tells us that increases in defence budgets are only ever temporary.
Why did BAe sell the production rights of the 125 series?
Is there a reson why BAe could not look to gain a foothold in commercial aviation and build regional airliners e.g embraer types or re-start production of the 146?. To my thinking BAe is just to valuable to left at the mercy of foreign countries.
andy - solihull
25 September 2012
Apparently they are discussing a 30/70 split compared to a 40/60 split now.
The BAE board are desperate and will agree to anything.
The government should not only use their golden share to block the take over but also sack the present BAE board and do as 'andy - solihull' suggests.
Cameron won't make it to the next election if he allows BAE to be sold out to EADS. The tragedy is even if he is toppled by then if BAE go then permanent and irreversible damage will have been done to the UK as a sovereign entity. THIS BID MUST BE STOPPED, and any other like it!
Martin Bayliss - Stroud
25 September 2012
This deal, if it is done, will plunge Britain into an industrial dark age from which it will never recover. Governments will end up pleading with EADS just to keep high tech jobs in the UK - as they have done with Ford, Honda, Nissan, General Motors, Jaguar Landrover, Kraft foods, the list goes on.
Lack of vision and short term thinking yet again are the culprits. Labour's disastrous defence procurement regime and obsession with spin over substance has brought us here; the Conservatives' spineless obsession with price over value will tip us into the hands of a federal Europe and even the Euro as we finally lose the power to shape our own destiny.
All national power will disappear if this deal goes ahead. Who would have thought that the Conservatives, who used to be seen as the patriotic party, would be the ones who wrought the death of the nation state?
Imagine being a British boxer who fights with a German right fist and a French left one. This is the route down which our politicians will take us. We'll never be independent again.
Michael - Hertfordshire
25 September 2012
martin bayliss stroud
Apparently they are discussing a 30/70 split compared to a 40/60 split now.
i am guessing that the lower percentage is BAe
i am not sure i can even see the advantage to the shareholders in this if you are right with the percentages
Another major concern is will the french & german governments effectively have a veto on future procurement and exports
This sound like a right mess in the making
andy - solihull
26 September 2012
Tank production gone, warship production decreasing, now we look to be losing our aircraft production soon.
Whatever happened to the UK national interests in regards our defence, looks like a stealth way of becoming a weak part of grand european forces contolled by Berlin/Paris.
As to EADS getting US military orders - don't bank on it- they will just go to US suppliers instead, this is where BAE would lose out and become a non entity after a short while.
JC - UK