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IN VIEW Special report by Ged Henderson
A NEW LINE OF DEFENCE
Chancellor Rachel Reeves declared that the UK will become a “defence industrial superpower” as she confirmed a £2.2bn spending boost for the sector in her Spring Statement.
Now the government is being urged to back up those words with actions by buying Lancashire built replacement Typhoon fighter jets for the RAF and fully committing to the Tempest next generation combat aircraft programme.
Confirming the additional spending for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) next year, the chancellor said it was necessary because of the need to move quickly in a “changing world”.
She said that she wanted the “whole country” to feel the benefits of the increase. Lancashire defence workers are hopeful that they are amongst those who will.
A minimum of 10 per cent of the Ministry of Defence’s equipment budget will be spent on new technologies including drones and AI-enabled technology.
Delivering her statement at the end of March, Ms Reeves told MPs: “We will establish a protected budget of £400m within the MOD – a budget that will rise over time for UK defence innovation with a clear mandate to bring innovative technology to the frontline at speed.
“We will reform our broken defence procurement system, making it quicker, more agile and more streamlined, and giving small
businesses across the UK better access to MoD contracts.”
She added: “We will provide £2bn of increased capacity for UK export finance to provide loans for overseas buyers of UK defence goods and services, because I want to do more with our defence budgets so we can buy and make and sell things here in Britain.
“Giving further opportunities for our world leading defence companies and those who work in them to grow and create jobs here in Britain as military spending rightly increases all across Europe.”
The chancellor also confirmed the government would be working to “establish a new Defence Growth Board” to put “defence at the heart of our modern industrial strategy to drive innovation that can deliver huge benefit back into the British economy. That is how we make our country a defence industrial superpower.
“This additional investment is not just about increasing our national security, but increasing our economic security, too.”
The Unite trade union, which represents thousands of workers at British Aerospace’s Lancashire plane-making plants in Warton and Samlesbury, is campaigning for the MoD to purchase a new tranche of British-built Typhoon fighter jets, rather than buy the US-made F35.
General secretary Sharon Graham said:
“The government is right to invest in our defence in an uncertain global world.
“The chancellor’s commitment to produce more defence equipment in the UK is welcome but those promises must be backed up by decisions, starting with the RAF buying replacement Typhoon fighter jets, protecting thousands of skilled jobs.”
Unite estimates that around 6,500 jobs at BAE and at engine supplier Rolls Royce are directly dependant on work on the Typhoon, with a further 14,000 in the supply chain. Around half of the jobs are in the North West.
Speaking before the chancellor’s statement she said: “Any thought of wooing Donald Trump by selling our defence jobs abroad and replacing the RAF fleet with US made F35s must be resisted and would be an act of self-harm.”
Unite is also calling on the the government fully commit to the Tempest fighter programme, the next generation fighter plane earmarked to replace the Typhoon.
It says that would allow the companies involved in the project to make the investment needed to ensure the new plane enters service as planned in 2035.
BAE Systems, which employs more than 11,000 people in Lancashire, is one of those companies and much of the Tempest work will take place in the county.
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