The Ministry of Defence is "failing Welsh businesses" with a significant drop in investment in the last four years, a Welsh MP has claimed.
The amount of spending from Ministry of Defence going businesses in Wales has fallen by £300 million since 2018 and now makes up only 4.2% of the total the MOD spent across the UK in 2020-21.
Figures show during the same period, MoD investment to businesses increased by £400m in the South West and by over £350m North West.
Ministry of Defence expenditure in Wales is £270 per person in 2020-2021, but in the south west of England, the figure is over £1,000.
Spending with small and medium-sized businesses in Wales fell to £18 million, just 1.9% of the total SME spend across the UK.
Islwyn MP Chris Evans, shadow defence procurement minister said the Government should adopt a "British-built by default".
He said: "The Ministry of Defence is failing Welsh businesses – despite excellent defence hubs such as Glascoed and Oakdale which have secured local jobs. Ministers have overseen a decade of decline in the defence industry with 30,000 highly skilled jobs lost since 2010.
"Our defence and aerospace industries are national assets and Labour is committed to a “British Built by default” approach to defence procurement which would support the growth of the British defence sector and build resilience in our supply chains.”
The Ministry of Defence says the total defence expenditure with UK industry in 2020/21 was £20.5 billion – an increase of £240 million on the previous year but the overall total can seem lower when adjusted for exceptional inflation figures, which were as a result of the unprecedented global pandemic.
A spokesperson said: "As well as keeping our country safe, we drive prosperity, provide jobs and build skills in every part of the United Kingdom. Defence has a strong footprint in Wales, supporting over 5,000 local jobs and providing a £866 million boost to the economy in the past year.
"We expect expenditure by nation and region to fluctuate year-on-year due to large value contracts starting and ending across different financial years or large one-off payments occurring."
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