Yeovil, sovereignty and the helicopter decision we cannot avoid

This week I secured a Westminster Hall debate on the future of the New Medium Helicopter programme. On the surface, it is a procurement decision. In reality, it is about far more than that. It is about sovereign capability, national security and whether we are serious about backing British defence manufacturing.

Since the retirement of the Puma fleet, the UK has had a clear medium lift capability gap. We can talk at length about drones, autonomy and the changing character of warfare. Those discussions are important. But crewed helicopters remain essential to moving troops, equipment and supplies across difficult terrain in high risk environments. That is not theory. It is practical defence.

The New Medium Helicopter programme was designed to address that gap. There is now one remaining bidder: Leonardo UK, proposing to build the AW149 at its Yeovil site. Yeovil is home to the UK’s last end to end helicopter manufacturing facility.

In the debate, I put it simply to the Minister for Defence Procurement, Luke Pollard. We have a capability requirement. We have a sole bidder. We have a factory with the skills and workforce ready to deliver. That should be a win for defence, a win for industry and a win for the taxpayer.

I recognise that the Ministry of Defence has been working hard behind the scenes on the wider Defence Investment Plan. Reforming a procurement system that has been overcommitted and underfunded for years is not simple. Ministers and officials are trying to ensure that every programme is properly funded and sustainable. That is the right ambition.

However, we are still waiting for clarity.

Leonardo’s best and final offer expires in March. In Westminster Hall, I pressed the Minister on whether the Government would allow the decision to time out. He confirmed that it would not. That is welcome. But we still do not have a date for publication of the Defence Investment Plan or confirmation of where the helicopter programme sits within it.

Uncertainty has consequences.

In Yeovil, more than 3,000 skilled jobs depend directly on the site, with around 12,000 more across the wider supply chain. The company contributes hundreds of millions of pounds to the regional economy. Apprenticeships, partnerships with local colleges and community investment all flow from that industrial base.

If we lose that capability, we do not simply lose a contract. We risk losing our sovereign ability to design and build helicopters in the UK. In an increasingly unstable world, that should give every Member of Parliament serious cause for reflection.

The Minister rightly spoke about the need to modernise procurement and to strike the right balance between crewed and uncrewed systems. The Strategic Defence Review sets out a mix of capabilities. Leonardo’s work on autonomous systems such as Proteus shows that British industry can innovate at pace.

But innovation depends on retaining skilled engineers, designers and technicians. If the workforce disperses because of prolonged uncertainty over core programmes, those future opportunities become harder to realise. Skills, once lost, are not easily rebuilt.

This is not about nostalgia or protecting one town for its own sake. It is about a coherent defence industrial strategy that matches ambition with delivery.

The Liberal Democrats have argued that we must be ambitious in how we fund and structure defence investment. That includes ideas such as defence bonds to unlock additional capital and stronger oversight to ensure that every pound delivers value. We should also be transparent about priorities so that industry can plan with confidence.

At a time when global instability is rising, it would be a serious step backwards if the UK drifted away from helicopter manufacturing just as other nations are strengthening their defence capacity.

The Government has said it will not let the decision lapse. I welcome that commitment and I recognise the work taking place within the MOD. But industry, Parliament and communities deserve timely clarity.

Defence is not delivered by strategy documents alone. It is delivered by people in factories, on production lines and in research labs across the country. In Yeovil, those people stand ready.

Now we need the certainty that allows them to continue doing what they do best.