BAE Systems raises guidance yet Burnham wavers on defence Industrials BAE Systems raised its guidance after a series of contract wins yet optimism over spending top-ups may have faded after Prime Minister Andy Burnham refused to commit to lifting expenditure. The aerospace and arms company said profit for the first half of the year amounted to more than £1bn while sales also improved on the [...]
AI, drones and data: Defence giants splash record $4.1bn on tech start-ups Tech Investment in defence tech start-ups has reached a record high this year as the world’s biggest arms companies step up spending on new military technology. New figures from Dealroom show defence contractors including BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Airbus have participated in $4.1bn (£3bn) of venture capital funding rounds so far this year, the highest [...]
Burnham vows to ‘get serious’ about slashing welfare bill Politics Andy Burnham has vowed that he will “get serious” about slashing the welfare bill, as the Prime Minister hunts savings to boost defence spending. “We’ve got to get really serious as a country [about] getting the welfare bill down,” Burnham told the BBC in his first full interview since becoming Prime Minister last week. He [...]
Burnham ‘aware’ of Healey’s extra £9bn spending demands July 26, 2026 Andy Burnham has said he was “very aware” of John Healey’s demand to spend at least £9bn more a year on defence when he appointed him as Chancellor. The Prime Minister has said he would ensure Sir Keir Starmer’s Defence Investment Plan (Dip) was “fully funded” in an interview with the BBC as his “first [...]
‘Extremely dangerous’: AI warfare much bigger threat than LLM model advances, experts warn July 25, 2026 The growing use of AI in warfare poses a much bigger threat to the future of the UK than the latest advances in frontier AI models, experts have told City AM. Nicholas Fairfax and Max Rangeley, co-editors of The Artificial Intelligence Revolution, said the ability of small actors to use AI to develop immensely powerful [...]
Tax rises ‘guaranteed’ as Healey faces £22bn black hole from Burnham spending plans July 22, 2026 Chancellor John Healey will be forced to launch another round of major tax rises in the autumn, leading economists have warned, after a City AM analysis found £22bn of spending pledges are not accounted for in official forecasts. Less than 24 hours after becoming Prime Minister, Andy Burnham has already announced plans to end rough [...]
Treasury minister: Meeting Nato defence pledge is Burnham’s job July 9, 2026 The Treasury has not evaluated how the government could reach its pledge to spend 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence by 2035, according to a cabinet minister, who said it was a job for the “next government” to carry out. Speaking to a parliamentary committee, chief secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby [...]
Government intervenes on foreign takeover bids for UK defence firms July 2, 2026 Ministers have intervened in a flurry of foreign takeover attempts on British defence firms in the past year over concerns the bids posed a threat to national security, City AM can reveal. The government unit that scrutinises takeovers “called in” 24 proposed bids from foreign buyers between the first quarter of 2025 and the end [...]
Starmer claims fiscal headroom can fill £5bn defence funding gap July 1, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer has suggested the existing fiscal headroom can be used to fill a defence funding gap of around £1bn a year. During Prime Minister’s Questions, Starmer accused the Conservatives of a “faux outrage” over complaints about £4.7bn out of £15bn being left for funding at the Budget this year. Starmer said that a [...]
UK government borrowing overshoots expectations on day Burnham elected June 19, 2026 UK government borrowing jumped higher than expected than expected in May, official data has shown, with Andy Burnham’s win in Makerfield now setting up a potential shift in public finance forecasts. The Office for National Statistics said the government’s net borrowing was £23.2bn in May, above economists’ £19bn prediction. Further government borrowing came as debt [...]