16 Mar 21. Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a statement to the House of Commons on the Integrated Review of security, defence, development and foreign policy. Mr Speaker, with permission I will make a statement on the government’s Integrated Review of security, defence, development and foreign policy, which we are publishing today. The overriding purpose of this Review – the most comprehensive since the Cold War is to make the United Kingdom stronger, safer and more prosperous while standing up for our values. Our international policy is a vital instrument for fulfilling this government’s vision of uniting and levelling up across our country, reinforcing the Union, and securing Britain’s place as a science superpower and a hub of innovation and research.
The Review describes how we will bolster our alliances, strengthen our capabilities, find new ways of reaching solutions and relearn the art of competing against states with opposing values.
We will be more dynamic abroad and more focused on delivering for our citizens at home.
I begin with the essential fact that the fortunes of the British people are almost uniquely interlinked with events on the far side of the world.
With limited natural resources we have always earned our living as a maritime trading nation.
In 2019 the UK sold goods and services overseas worth £690bn, fully a third of our GDP, sustaining millions of jobs and livelihoods everywhere from Stranraer to St Ives and making our country the fifth biggest exporter in the world.
Between 5 and 6 million Britons – nearly one in ten of us – live permanently overseas, including 175,000 in the Gulf and nearly two million in Asia and Australasia. So a crisis in any of those regions, or in the trade routes connecting them, would be a crisis for us from the very beginning.
The truth is that even if we wished it – and of course we don’t– the UK could never turn inwards or be content with the cramped horizons of a regional foreign policy.
For us, there are no faraway countries of which we know little.
Global Britain is not a reflection of old obligations, still less a vainglorious gesture, but a necessity for the safety and prosperity of the British people in the decades ahead.
I am determined that the UK will join our friends to ensure that free societies flourish after the pandemic, sharing the risks and burdens of addressing the world’s toughest problems.
The UK’s presidency of the G7 has already produced agreement to explore a global Treaty on Pandemic Preparedness, working through the World Health Organisation to enshrine the steps that countries will need to take to prevent another COVID.
We will host COP-26 in Glasgow in November and rally as many nations as possible behind the target of Net Zero by 2050,
leading by example since the UK was the first major economy to accept this obligation in law.
Britain will remain unswervingly committed to NATO and preserving peace and security in Europe, and from this secure basis, we will seek out friends and partners wherever they can be found, building a coalition for openness and innovation, and engaging more deeply in the Indo-Pacific.
I have invited the leaders of Australia, South Korea and India to attend the G7 summit in Carbis Bay in June, and I am delighted to announce that I will visit India next month to strengthen our friendship with the world’s biggest democracy.
Our approach will place diplomacy first and the UK has applied to become a dialogue partner of the Association of South East Asian Nations and we will seek to join the Trans-Pacific free trade agreement.
But all our international goals rest upon keeping our people safe at home
and deterring those who would do us harm.
So we will create a Counter-Terrorism Operations Centre, bringing together our ability to thwart the designs of terrorists, while also dealing with the actions of hostile states.
It is almost exactly three years since the Russian state used a chemical weapon in Salisbury, killing an innocent mother, Dawn Sturgess, and bringing fear to a tranquil city.
I can announce that the National Cyber Force, which conducts offensive cyber operations against terrorists, hostile states and criminal gangs, will in future be located in a cyber corridor in the North West of England.
And we will also establish a cross-government Situation Centre in the Cabinet Office, learning the lessons of the pandemic and improving our use of data to anticipate and respond to future crises.
The first outcome of the Integrated Review was the government’s decision to invest an extra £24bn in defence, allowing the wholesale modernisation of our armed forces and taking forward the renewal of our nuclear deterrent.
The new money will be focused on mastering the emerging technologies that are transforming warfare, reflecting the premium placed on speed and deployment and technical skill, and my Right Honourable Friend the Defence Secretary will set out the details next week.
Later this year, HMS Queen Elizabeth will embark on her maiden deployment, leading a carrier strike group on a 20,000-mile voyage to the Indo-Pacific and back, exercising with Britain’s allies and partners along the way, and demonstrating the importance that we attach to freedom of the seas.
By strengthening our armed forces, we will extend British influence while simultaneously creating jobs across the United Kingdom, reinforcing the Union, and maximising our advantage in science and technology.
This government will invest more in research and development than any of our predecessors because innovation is the key to our success at home and abroad, from speeding our economic recovery, to shaping emerging technologies in accordance with freedom and openness.
We will better protect ourselves against threats to our economic security.
Our newly independent trade policy will be an instrument for ensuring that the rules and standards in future trade agreements reflect our values.
Our newly independent sanctions policy already allows the UK to act swiftly and robustly wherever necessary and we were the first European country to sanction the generals in Myanmar after the coup last month.
In all our endeavours, the United States will be our greatest ally and a uniquely close partner in defence, intelligence and security.
Britain’s commitment to the security of our European home will remain unconditional and immoveable, incarnated by our leadership of NATO’s deployment in Estonia.
We shall stand up for our values as well as for our interests – and here I commend the vigilance and dedication of Hon Members from all parties.
The UK, with the wholehearted support of this whole House, has led the international community in expressing our deep concern over China’s mass detention of the Uighur people in Xinjiang province, and in giving nearly three million of Hong Kong’s people a route to British citizenship.
There is no question that China will pose a great challenge for an open society such as ours.
But we will also work with China where that is consistent with our values and interests, including building a stronger and positive economic relationship and in addressing climate change.
The greater our unity at home, the stronger our influence abroad, which will, in turn, open up new markets and create jobs in every corner of the UK, not only maximising opportunities for the British people but also, I hope, inspiring a sense of pride that their country is willing to follow in its finest traditions and stand up for what is right.
With the extra investment and new capabilities of the Integrated Review, I believe the United Kingdom can thrive in an ever more competitive world, and fulfil our historic mission as a force for good, and I commend this statement to the House. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
Highlights:
*An integrated space policy: making the UK a meaningful player in space Since 2010, space has proved to be one of the UK’s fastest growing sectors, trebling in size. It now employs 42,000 people and generates an income of £14.8bn each year, with particular strengths in small satellite technology, satellite and deep-space telecommunications, robotics and Earth observation. The UK nevertheless relies heavily on our allies for access to critical capabilities, such as satellite launch. By 2030, the Government’s ambition is for the UK to have the ability to monitor, protect and defend our interests in and through space, using a mixture of sovereign capabilities and burden-sharing partnerships with our allies. To meet this ambition, the National Space Council will develop the UK’s first national space strategy in 2021. This strategy will establish an integrated approach across military and civil space policy, under which we will:
- Establish a new Space Command by summer 2021, ensuring that the armed forces have cutting-edge capabilities to advance UK interests on Earth and in space – enhancing our cooperation with allies and ensuring we can compete with our adversaries.
- Develop a commercial launch capability from the UK – launching British satellites from Scotland by 2022 as part of the UK Space Agency’s programme to enable a UK-wide market for spaceflight services. This will give us greater strategic autonomy and flexibility in terms of what the UK puts into space, and when.
- Develop other critical space capabilities for military and civil use, including Space Domain Awareness, which uses integrated in-space and ground sensing to track space debris, investigate incidents in space, and detect, anticipate and attribute hostile activity.
- Support the UK space sector to realise the economic benefits from this new and dynamic market, and extend the UK’s influence in the space domain. As part of building the UK’s strategic advantage through S&T, the Government will build the enabling environment for a thriving UK space industry developing space- and ground-based technologies. We will promote a ‘whole-of-life’ offer from R&D through finance to satellite operations, launch capability data applications and end-of-life services. Defence will carry out more space-related science activity, R&D and operational concept demonstrators.
- Prevent the proliferation of technologies that pose a threat in space, such as ballistic missile technologies, through robust export controls
- Increase the UK’s international collaboration across our space-related objectives. We intend to continue our participation in the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme, and will deepen our cooperation with NATO and through the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) initiative. We will also develop our work with bodies including NASA and the European, Canadian, Australian and Japanese space agencies.
*To modernise the UK armed forces, maintaining a full spectrum of capabilities, as set out in the Defence Command Paper. We will prioritise the development and integration of new technologies – including those required for near-peer, high-tech warfighting – and a ‘digital backbone’ to enable multi-domain operations and interoperability with allies and partners. In the Euro-Atlantic, the UK will be one of only two NATO Allies to bring to bear nuclear, offensive cyber, precision strike weapons and fifth-generation strike aircraft. We will also contribute to missile defence, to space awareness and resilience (including through a new Space Command) and to CBRN resilience. A new generation of warships will support our historic role in keeping the North Atlantic open. Our highly mobile airborne and amphibious forces will be able to reinforce Allies at short notice. Our land force will undergo its most comprehensive modernisation for two decades, becoming better integrated with other domains, better able to intervene quickly and effectively over large distances, better protected from electronic, air and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle threats, and better able to engage an adversary at long range. Our Special Forces will be ready to operate in the most hostile environments and against our most sophisticated adversaries. With international partners including Italy and Sweden, we will continue to develop FCAS as a replacement for our Typhoon fast jets, drawing on ground-breaking technologies from the defence sector and beyond.
*To improve our ability to manage and de-escalate a multi-domain crisis, reflecting the increased intensity of competition from our potential adversaries and the more complex range of routes for escalation, including to nuclear coercion. The UK will run a series of national, strategic-level exercises to test resilience and our ability to navigate crises. We will actively support similar NATO and EU-NATO exercises. IV. Strategic Framework 73
- To sustain our commitment to collective security beyond the Euro-Atlantic, strengthening our ties and understanding. In particular, given the growing importance of the Indo-Pacific, we will reinforce our commitment to the FPDA and increase our regional maritime presence to support norms and laws in the region. In 2021, HMS Queen Elizabeth will lead a multinational task group on a global deployment, visiting the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.
*The nuclear deterrent
The UK’s independent nuclear deterrent has existed for over 60 years to deter the most extreme threats to our national security and way of life, helping to guarantee our security and that of our Allies. We have previously identified risks to the UK from major nuclear armed states, emerging nuclear states, and state-sponsored nuclear terrorism. Those risks have not gone away. Some states are now significantly increasing and diversifying their nuclear arsenals. They are investing in novel nuclear technologies and developing new ‘warfighting’ nuclear systems which they are integrating into their military strategies and doctrines and into their political rhetoric to seek to coerce others. The increase in global competition, challenges to the international order, and proliferation of potentially disruptive technologies all pose a threat to strategic stability. The UK must ensure potential adversaries can never use their capabilities to threaten us or our NATO Allies. Nor can we allow them to constrain our decision-making in a crisis or to sponsor nuclear terrorism. The UK’s minimum, assured, credible nuclear deterrent The fundamental purpose of our nuclear weapons is to preserve peace, prevent coercion and deter aggression. A minimum, credible, independent nuclear deterrent, assigned to the defence of NATO, remains essential in order to guarantee our security and that of our Allies. In 2010 the Government stated an intent to reduce our overall nuclear warhead stockpile ceiling from not more than 225 to not more than 180 by the mid-2020s. However, in recognition of the evolving security environment, including the developing range of technological and doctrinal threats, this is no longer possible, and the UK will move to an overall nuclear weapon stockpile of no more than 260 warheads. To ensure that our deterrent is not vulnerable to pre-emptive action by potential adversaries, we will maintain our four submarines so that at least one will always be on a Continuous At Sea Deterrent patrol.
Our submarines on patrol are at several days’ notice to fire and, since 1994, we do not target our missiles at any state. We remain committed to maintaining the minimum destructive power needed to guarantee that the UK’s nuclear deterrent remains credible and effective against the full range of state nuclear threats from any direction. We will continue to keep our nuclear posture under constant review in light of the international security environment and the actions of potential adversaries. We will maintain the capability required to impose costs on an adversary that would far outweigh the benefits they could hope to achieve should they threaten our, or our Allies’, security. UK nuclear weapons policy The UK’s nuclear weapons are operationally independent and only the Prime Minister can authorise their use. This ensures that political control is maintained at all times. We would consider using our nuclear weapons only in extreme circumstances of self-defence, including the defence of our NATO Allies.
- Strategic Framework
While our resolve and capability to do so if necessary is beyond doubt, we will remain deliberately ambiguous about precisely when, how and at what scale we would contemplate the use of nuclear weapons. Given the changing security and technological environment, we will extend this long-standing policy of deliberate ambiguity and no longer give public figures for our operational stockpile, deployed warhead or deployed missile numbers. This ambiguity complicates the calculations of potential aggressors, reduces the risk of deliberate nuclear use by those seeking a first-strike advantage, and contributes to strategic stability. The UK will not use, or threaten to use, nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear weapon state party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 1968 (NPT). This assurance does not apply to any state in material breach of those non-proliferation obligations. However, we reserve the right to review this assurance if the future threat of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical and biological capabilities, or emerging technologies that could have a comparable impact, makes it necessary. Working with NATO, the US and France NATO recognises that any employment of nuclear weapons against NATO would fundamentally alter the nature of a conflict. Therefore, as long as nuclear weapons exist, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance. Since 1962, the UK has declared our nuclear capability to the defence of the Alliance. We will continue to do so, safeguarding European and Euro-Atlantic security. We will work with Allies to ensure that NATO’s nuclear deterrent capabilities remain safe, secure and effective, adapt to emerging challenges including the growing and diversifying nuclear threats that the Alliance may face, and contribute to the indivisible security of the Alliance. Nuclear cooperation remains an important element of the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, enhancing transatlantic security. We will continue to work closely with the United States on nuclear matters, including nuclear deterrence policy. The 1958 Mutual Defense Agreement (MDA) has been central to our shared nuclear security goals and we are committed to its renewal in 2024. Since 1995, France and the United Kingdom, Europe’s only nuclear powers, have stated that they can imagine no circumstances under which a threat to the vital interests of one would not constitute a threat to the vital interests of the other. We will continue our daily and unprecedented cooperation on nuclear issues, including our collaboration under the 2010 Teutates Treaty. Our future capability Our independent nuclear deterrent is relevant not only for today but will also remain relevant for the immediate future. It is for these reasons that we have committed to a once-in-two-generations programme to modernise our nuclear forces.
This investment in the future security of both the UK and our Allies demonstrates that the UK’s nuclear commitment remains undiminished. Parliament has voted to renew our nuclear deterrent and replace the Vanguard Class submarines with four new Dreadnought Class submarines. The programme remains within budget and on track for the First of Class to enter service in the early 2030s. 78 Integrated Review To ensure we maintain an effective deterrent throughout the commission of the Dreadnought Class, we will replace our existing nuclear warhead. We will work with the Atomic Weapons Establishment to build the highly skilled teams, facilities and capabilities needed to deliver this, while also sustaining the current warhead until it is withdrawn from service.
We will continue to work closely with the United States to ensure our warhead remains compatible with the Trident Strategic Weapon System, our cooperation underpinned by both the MDA and the 1963 Polaris Sales Agreement. Delivery of the modernisation of the deterrent will be subject to the Government’s major programme approvals and oversight. We will continue to provide updates through an annual report to Parliament. We will work collaboratively across the defence and civil nuclear sectors to optimise the Defence Nuclear Enterprise for the future. This will ensure that the UK has a minimum, credible, independent nuclear deterrent for as long as is necessary. Arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation: our commitment to international treaties We remain committed to the long-term goal of a world without nuclear weapons. We continue to work for the preservation and strengthening of effective arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation measures, taking into account the prevailing security environment. We are strongly committed to full implementation of the NPT in all its aspects, including nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy; there is no credible alternative route to nuclear disarmament. The UK has taken a consistent and leading approach to nuclear disarmament. The UK possesses the smallest stockpile of any of the nuclear weapon states recognised by the NPT. We are alone amongst those states in only operating a single nuclear weapon system. We will continue to press for key steps towards multilateral disarmament, including the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and successful negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty in the Conference on Disarmament. We will continue to take a leading international role on nuclear disarmament verification; this is an essential step for nuclear disarmament under strict and effective international control. The UK will continue to work internationally to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict and enhance mutual trust and security. We will champion strategic risk reduction and seek to create dialogue among states possessing nuclear weapons, and between states possessing nuclear weapons and non-nuclear weapon states, to increase understanding and reduce the risk of misinterpretation and miscalculation. The UK takes its responsibilities as a nuclear weapon state seriously and will continue to encourage other states to do likewise. IV. Strategic Framework 79 3.2
*SR 2020 Commitment
Nearly £15bn funding including: • Commitment to raising economy-wide investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.
- A multi-year settlement for the National Academies and UK Research and Innovation’s core research budgets, which will grow by more than £400m on average per year for the next three years.
- By 2023-24 the Government will be investing £1.4bn more per year in core funding for its world-leading research base.
- Up to £17m in 2021-22 to establish a new unit and fund that will focus on the last mile of innovation to help ensure that public-sector knowledge assets (R&D, intellectual property, and other intangible assets) translate into new high-tech jobs, businesses and economic growth.
- Innovate UK’s grant programmes and the Catapult Network provide critical support for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises and £490m has been provided for Innovate UK’s core budgets next year. This will support high-tech firms across the UK in developing the technologies of the future.
*Defence R&D: Investment of at least £6.6bn in R&D, enabling research into AI and other battle-winning technologies as part of the MOD’s four-year settlement.
*£695m of additional R&D funding between 2021-22 to 2024-25. To support the development of cutting-edge capabilities in the agencies.
*Cyber: The MOD settlement includes funding for the NCF in partnership with the security and intelligence agencies to enhance the UK’s position as a responsible, democratic cyber power.
- £305m of continued investment in 2021-22 in the crossgovernment National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP), funding transformational cyber security projects to support departments, the private sector and wider society. This investment will enable the UK to stay at the forefront of global action to secure a safe digital future and successfully adopt new technology to drive resilience and economic growth. There is a further £18m in 2021-22 for international cyber, digital and data capacity-building programmes, and projects from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.
*Defence (MoD)
- Over £24bn increase in cash terms over four years, including at least £6.6bn of R&D (as mentioned above) to maintain a cutting-edge military. This reaffirms the UK’s commitment to its allies, making the UK the largest European spender on defence in NATO and the second largest in the Alliance.
- The additional funding in this settlement will: • Enable research into AI and other battle-winning technologies.
- Reshape the UK’s armed forces for a more competitive age.
- Establish a new Space Command and enhance the breadth of our space capabilities. • Continue the renewal of the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
- Develop the next generation of naval vessels, including Type 32 frigates and Fleet Solid Support ships, and deliver our plans for eight Type 26 and five Type 31 frigates.
- Progress our Carrier Strike capabilities, with at least 48 F-35s by 2025.
- Develop the Future Combat Air System for the RAF, along with delivering upgraded Typhoon radars.
- Enhance the UK’s position as a responsible, democratic cyber power
*CBRN:
- £22m resource funding in 2021-22 and £329m capital funding from 2021-22 to 2024-25 to enhance nuclear detection capability.