02 Jun 25. Statement from Defence Secretary John Healey on the Strategic Defence Review.
With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the Strategic Defence Review.
And I have laid the full 130-page review report first before this house. I am grateful to be able to make this statement on the first day back from recess.
Mr Speaker, the world has changed, and we must respond.
The SDR is our Plan for Change for Defence.
A plan to meet the threats we face.
A plan to step up on European Security and lead in NATO.
A plan that learns the lessons from Ukraine.
A plan to seize the defence dividend from our record increase in defence investment, to boost jobs and growth throughout the United Kingdom.
And a plan to put the men and women of our Armed Forces at the heart of our defence plans: better pay, better kit, better housing.
Through the SDR will make our Armed Forces stronger, and the British people safer.
I’d like to thank those who led the SDR… Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, General Barrons and Dr Fiona Hill.
“The politician, the soldier, and a foreign policy expert”, as they say themselves in their forward. They have put in a huge effort, alongside others.
This is a first-of-its-kind, externally led review.
A process, in which we received 8 000 submissions from experts, individuals, organisations, and MPs from across the House, including the Shadow Defence Secretary.
I thank them all – and I thank those in the MOD who have contributed to this SDR.
This is not just the government’s review it is Britain’s defence review.
And so, the government endorses the SDR’s vision, accepts its 62 recommendations, which will be implemented.
Mr Speaker, the threats we face is now more serious and less predictable than at any time since the of Cold War.
We face war in Europe, growing Russian aggression, new nuclear risks, and daily cyber-attacks at home.
Our adversaries are working more in alliance with one another, while technology is changing the way war is fought.
We are in a new era of threat, which demands a new era for UK Defence.
Mr Speaker, since the General Election we have demonstrated that we are a government dedicated to delivering for defence.
Committing the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War… £5bn extra this year, 2.5% in 2027, the ambition to 3% in the next parliament.
Mr Speaker, there can be no investment without reform.
And so we are already driving also the deepest reforms to defence in 50 years.
And these will ensure clearer responsibilities, better delivery, stronger budget control and new efficiencies, worth £6 billion in this parliament, money all of which will be reinvested directly into defence.
Mr Speaker, our Armed Forces will always do what’s needed to keep the nation safe –24/7, in more than 50 countries around the world.
But in a more dangerous world, the SDR confirms that we must move to warfighting readiness.
Warfighting readiness means stronger deterrence.
We need stronger deterrence to avoid the huge costs, human and economic that wars create.
And we prevent wars by being strong enough to fight and win them. And that is what has made NATO the most successful defence alliance in history, over the last 75 years.
So Mr Speaker, we will establish a “New Hybrid Navy” by:
… building Dreadnought, AUKUS submarines, cutting-edge warships and new autonomous vessels.
Our carriers will carry the first hybrid airwings in Europe.
We will develop the next generation RAF with:
F35s, upgraded Typhoons, 6th Gen GCAP and autonomous fighters, to defend Britain’s skies and be able to strike anywhere in the world.
And we will make the British Army 10 times more lethal by:
Combining the future technology of drones, autonomy and AI with the heavy metal tanks and artillery.
Mr Speaker for too long, our Army has been asked to do more with less.
We inherited a long run recruitment crisis – [political content removed].
Reversing this decline will take time but we are acting to stem the loss now and aiming to increase the British Army to at least 76,000 full time soldiers in the next parliament.
Mr Speaker, for the first time in a generation, we are a government who want the number of regular soldiers to rise.
In our homeland, Mr Speaker, this a government that will protect our island home, we’ll do so by:
Committing £1bn in new funding to homeland air and missile defences, by creating a new CyberEM Command to defend Britain in the grey zone and by preparing legislation to improve defence readiness.
Mr. Speaker, as Ukraine shows a country’s armed forces are only as strong as the industry that stands behind them.
So this SDR begins a new partnership with industry, with innovators and with investors, we will make engine. We will make defence an engine for growth, an engine for growth to create jobs and increase prosperity in every nation and every region of the UK.
Take our nuclear enterprise.
We will commit 15 billion pounds in investment into the sovereign warhead programme in this Parliament, supporting over 9000 jobs. We will establish continuous submarine production through investments in Barrow and in Derby, that will allow us to produce a submarine every 18 months, allowing us to grow our nuclear attack submarine fleet to up to 12 submarines, supporting more than 20,000 jobs.
And on munitions, we will invest 6 billion pounds in this Parliament, including for six new munitions factories and up to 7000 new long-range weapons, supporting nearly 2000 jobs.
Mr. Speaker, the lives of workers in Barrow or Derby or Govan, where I was with the Prime Minister this morning, are being transformed, not just by this defence investment, but by the pride and purpose that comes with work that comes with defence work. And in the coming years, more communities and more working people will benefit from the defence dividend that this brings.
Mr. Speaker Ukraine also tells us that whoever gets new technology into the hands of their armed forces fastest will have the advantage. So we will place Britain at the leading edge of innovation in NATO.
We will double investment into autonomous systems this parliament. We will invest more than a billion pounds to integrate our armed forces through a new digital targeting web, and we will finance a £400 million UK Defence Innovation organization.
Mr. Speaker, to ensure that Britain gains the maximum benefit from what we invent and what we produce in this country, we will create a new defence exports office in the MOD, driving exports to our allies and driving growth at home.
Mr. Speaker, the SDR sets a new vision, a new framework for defence investment.
The work to confirm a new defence investment plan, superseding the last government’s defence equipment plan, will be completed in the autumn.
It will ensure our frontline forces get what they need when they need it.
The plan will be deliverable. It will be affordable. It will consider infrastructure alongside capabilities. It will seize the opportunities of advanced tech, and it will seize the opportunities to grow the British economy.
And Mr. Speaker, as we lose the national service generation, fewer families across this country have a direct connection to the armed forces. And so we must do more to reconnect the nation with those who defend us.
And so as the SDR recommends, we will increase the number of cadets by 30%, we will introduce a voluntary Gap Year scheme for school and college leavers, and we will develop a new strategic reserve by 2030.
Mr. Speaker, we must also renew the nation’s contract with those who serve. We’ve already awarded the biggest pay increase in over 20 years, an inflation busting increase this year. And now I’ve announced we will invest 7 billion pounds of funding this parliament for military accommodation, including 1.5bn of new money for rapid work to deal with the scandal of military family homes.
Mr. Speaker, this SDR is the first defence review in a generation for growth and for transformation in UK defence. It will end 14 years of hollowing out in our armed forces, and instead, we will see investment increased, the Navy expanded, the army grown, the Air Force upgraded, war fighting readiness, restored, NATO strengthened, the nuclear deterrent, guaranteed advanced technology developed and jobs, jobs created. Jobs created in every nation, and region of this country. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Strategic Defence Review will make Britain, safer, more secure, at home, and stronger abroad.
PM’s remarks on the Strategic Defence Review
Good morning to all of you, thank you for being here this morning –
Thank you for sharing the work that you are doing here, some of which we can see right behind us.
Because this is a legendary Govan shipyard.
And it’s really good to be able to be here in this massive space, and to be back on the Clyde.
As you may have seen a couple of months ago –
Just after dawn, on a drizzly morning –
If you can believe it –
I took a boat out onto the firth,
To meet one of our vanguard-class submarines…
As it came back in off patrol.
And it was a record-breaking patrol.
And we boarded the sub. It had just surfaced. It had been at sea…
Maintaining our continuous-at-sea deterrent…
For months on end –
A really long shift –
And met what was quite a remarkable crew.
And I will remember that day for the rest of my life.
Because it was very clear to me that there is no greater duty than the one that they carry –
No task more vital.
Our security…
NATO’s security…
Depends on them.
And I had the privilege of being shown around and talked to many teams on the sub…
Saw them rushing to their battle stations to conduct a firing drill…
And wherever I went on the sub, whichever team I was talking to…
From the engineers, the cooks, the navigators –
Over and over again –
There was a sort of unofficial motto that they told me – their motto:
“Nothing works unless we all work together.”
And in this moment of danger and threat for our country –
That is the spirit we need.
The Strategic Defence Review that I am launching today…
Will bring that unity of purpose to the whole of the United Kingdom…
To mobilise the nation in a common cause…
Recognising, in these dangerous times,
That when it comes to the defence of the realm…
And the defence of everything we hold dear…
Nothing works unless we all work together.
From every man and woman serving in uniform,
To the workers building the next generation of subs in Barrow…
From the brilliant workers and apprentices right here in Govan…
Building the new Type 26 frigates – like the two you can see being built behind me today…
To our tech experts, our scientists, our engineers –
Who are pioneering battlefield innovations and cyber defences –
Every part of society…
Every citizen of this country…
Has a role to play.
Because we have to recognise that things have changed.
In the world of today –
The front line, if you like, is here.
The threat we now face is more serious, more immediate and more unpredictable…
Than at any time since the Cold War.
We face war in Europe, new nuclear risks, daily cyber attacks…
Growing Russian aggression in our waters…
Menacing our skies…
Their reckless actions driving up the cost of living here at home…
Creating economic pain…
And hitting working people the hardest.
A new era in the threats we face,
Demands a new era for defence and security…
Not just to survive in this new world –
But to lead.
We will never gamble with our national security.
Instead, we will act –
In the national interest.
And that’s why I placed national security…
At the heart of our Plan for Change…
That’s why I launched this Strategic Defence Review…
Within days of becoming Prime Minster.
And now it has delivered.
And I want to thank the reviewers –
Especially Lord Robertson who is with us today.
Thank you so much for your work and the work of the other reviewers.
What you have delivered is a blueprint to make Britain safer and stronger:
A battle-ready, armour-clad nation…
With the strongest alliances…
And the most advanced capabilities –
Equipped for the decades to come.
And we have already acted –
Announcing the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.
Raising it to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 –
Setting the ambition to hit 3% in the next Parliament…
Subject to economic and fiscal conditions.
And today – following through on this review –
I want to set out three fundamental changes that we’re going to deliver.
First, we are moving to warfighting readiness –
As the central purpose of our armed forces.
When we are being directly threatened by states with advanced military forces…
The most effective way to deter them is to be ready –
And, frankly, to show them that we’re ready –
To deliver peace through strength.
Now Britain has the finest service men and women in the world.
We’re showing them the respect that they deserve
By delivering the biggest Armed Forces pay rise in 20 years,
And by pledging, today, that we will end the hollowing out of our Armed Forces.
We’ll build a fighting force that is more integrated, more ready, more lethal than ever –
Backed by a stronger Strategic Reserve – fully trained and ready to mobilise at any time.
Second, everything we do will add to the strength of NATO,
As we step up to take greater responsibility for our collective defence.
The NATO alliance means something profound:
That we will never fight alone.
It is a fundamental source of our strategic strength.
That’s why our defence policy will always be “NATO first.”
Something that is written through this review.
The transformation we are driving in our defence must add up to…
Britain’s biggest contribution to NATO since its creation.
So that when we are building new capabilities at home –
We are making our allies safer too –
Strengthening Europe –
And strengthening our bridge to the US,
As Britain’s first partner in defence.
Third, we will innovate and accelerate innovation to a wartime pace…
So we can meet the threats of today and tomorrow…
As the fastest innovator in NATO.
Now this doesn’t mean replacing people or hardware –
Quite the opposite –
It means learning the lessons of Ukraine, which I have discussed many times with President Zelenskyy…
To ensure every capability we have works seamlessly together –
Drones, destroyers, AI, aircraft…
Each different branch of our armed services…
Fully integrated…
To create an Army which is ten times more lethal by 2035.
And in delivering all of this –
We are more ambitious than ever for the change it can bring.
To deliver…
Not just security for our country –
But renewal too.
After the Cold War, many nations cut defence spending,
Freeing up public funds…
Creating what was called a “peace dividend”
Which people felt in their public services and the quality of their lives.
Faced with new circumstances today –
We must deliver for working people again –
To seize, now,
A “defence dividend” for the British people…
Using this moment to drive jobs and investment…
Throughout the country –
Like here in Govan…
Providing local opportunities, skilled work – community pride.
Ensuring that everyone across the United Kingdom has a role to play in this effort, yes –
But, also, that everyone has a stake in its success.
And – I want to spell this out very simply…
To achieve this…
We’re going to build.
We’re going to use this investment –
And this once-in-a-generation reform…
To drive renewal up and down the nation…
Creating new jobs…
Creating skills and opportunity…
Driving huge growth in industrial capacity.
Let me give just one or two examples.
I can announce today…
That we are going to build at least six new munitions factories in the United Kingdom –
Generating over 1,000 jobs.
We will build thousands of new long-range weapons in the United Kingdom…
To boost European deterrence…
Supporting around 800 more jobs.
We will defend our homeland…
By investing in our air and missile defence –
To better protect these islands.
We will create a hybrid Royal Navy…
Blending drones with warships, submarines, and aircraft to patrol the North Atlantic and beyond –
Supporting thousands of brilliant shipbuilding jobs –
Including right here in Govan.
Under our Aukus alliance with the US and Australia…
We will now deliver up to 12 attack submarines –
Protecting Britain’s waters…
Scaling up the industrial base in Barrow –
And all along the supply chain…
To deliver a new sub every 18 months –
Again, creating thousands of jobs.
We will also invest in world-leading drone capabilities and battlefield technology…
In better kit for our warriors abroad…
And better housing for them and their families at home.
And – finally…
I can confirm today that we are investing £15 billion…
In our sovereign warhead programme…
To secure our deterrent for decades to come –
Creating 9,000 jobs…
And thousands more in the supply chain across the country,
Part of the historic renewal of our nuclear deterrent –
As the ultimate guarantor of our safety and our security.
The moment has arrived –
To transform how we defend ourselves…
And to renew our nation –
An investment in British pride and the British people…
A defence dividend –
That will be felt in the pockets of working people…
And the prosperity of the country…
Securing growth for generations to come…
Part of a new contract to unite the Kingdom…
A new spirit of service, flowing from every part of society –
From the supply lines to the front lines –
Everyone benefitting, everyone playing their role –
Doing their duty to the nation and to each other –
To preserve our way of life –
And the things that we hold dear…
Because when it comes to security and renewal:
Nothing works unless we all work together.
Thank you very much indeed.
(Source: https://www.gov.uk/)