UK pauses Integrated Review of defence and foreign policy

The UK Government has paused work on an Integrated Review of defence and foreign policy that was announced earlier this year.

The Cabinet Office has notified the House of Commons Defence Committee that work on the review across Whitehall has been formally put on hold.

Chair of the defence committee and MP Tobias Ellwood said: “We welcome this delay of the Integrated Review. There would be no point in conducting an in-depth review of the nation’s defence and security challenges to an artificial deadline, especially at a time when Whitehall is rightly focusing on tackling coronavirus.

“We look forward to engaging with the Department when the Review restarts, with the added element of the consequences of the pandemic to be considered. We will still report in due course on the Committee’s inquiry into how Government should conduct the Review and hope that this work will inform the process in the future.”