Sir Keir Starmer has announced Labour's commitment to increased spending on the UK's defence sector, which will include at least six new munitions factories.
The prime minister delivered a speech today from Janet Harvey Hall, the BAE Systems shipbuilding facility in Glasgow. Welcomed to the speakers podium by a BAE Systems apprentice, with factory workers standing behind him, Mr Starmer ran through some of Labour’s commitments, stating the he is moving the UK to “war fighting readiness” at “war time pace”.
This is in order to deter conflict with Russia, a threat that he has believes cannot be ignored.
As well as the promise to build new UK factories, other announcements included the move to a hybrid Royal Navy, which will blend drones with warships, submarines and aircraft.
In addition, AUKUS (a partnership with the US and Australia) will deliver up to 12 attack submarines, and there will be a large investment in nuclear weapons, which will see £15 billion put towards the “sovereign warhead programme”.
Better housing and equipment for members of the armed forces was also promised.
Earlier this year the government announced defence spending would rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, with the ambition, rather than firm commitment, to rise to 3 per cent by the next parliament, which will be in 2034.
There were no statements, or follow up questions from journalists, with regards to when the new munitions factories will be built by.
Mr Starmer began his speech by mentioning the time he met those working on the UK’s nuclear submarines. He says their unofficial motto is “nothing works unless we all work together”.
He stated that this is the spirit the UK needs, and said that his government’s defence review will bring that unity of purpose to the whole of the UK, to mobilise the nation in a common cause.
Reiterating some of the comments he made earlier in the morning when he said the world is changing, he stated that the review will recognise that in these “dangerous times”, when it comes to defence nothing works unless we all work together.
Three fundamental goals that the defence spending review aims to achieve are:
- Moving the UK to “war-fighting readiness”. This is the “most effective way” to deter aggressors, according to the prime minster.
- “Adding to the strength of Nato”
- “Innovate and accelerate innovation at a war-time pace” to meet threats. Mr Starmer says he wants the UK to be the fastest innovator in the alliance.
Citicism of the spending review came from the likes of the Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch. She took aim at the recently signed Chagos deal, where the UK handed over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, retaining control of a UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
Badenoch remarked that Labour found “billions for the Chagos surrender – but can’t commit to properly funding our armed forces”.
Former head of the British Army, Lord Dannat believes that 3 per cent of GDP defence spending target should come forward. He says it needs to be at the end of this parliament, which is up in 2029.
Referencing the current threat of Vladimir Putin and Russia, he said “If we’d said to Hitler in 1938, ‘hang on, don’t attack us until 1946’, well that would have been daft.”
He argues that if the government believes there is a genuine threat now, pointing out that some military experts say there is a possibility Europe could come under attack from Russia in two to four years time – then the UK has to use this time to “rapidly” increase the capability of the armed forces.
With the announcement taking place in Scotland, the uplift in defence spending to help support jobs and the economy won’t be met with any objection from SNP ministers in the Scottish government.
However, this will create a difference of opinion on the maintenance of the nuclear-armed submarine fleet based at Faslane on the River Clyde.
The SNP has long demanded that all nuclear weapons are removed from Scotland, so this is expected to cause fresh debate with less than a year to go until the next Holyrood elections and a by-election taking place this Thursday.
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