Budget 2026: Healey leans on private sector for defence investment drive Industrials The Chancellor has set up a new defence financing taskforce and unveiled fresh funding for investment in the arms industry amid a concerted effort to lean on the private sector to drive Britain’s rearmament push. John Healey swerved any concrete public sector defence pledges at his maiden Budget, promising to provide detail on how the [...]
Healey avoids bond market backlash with ‘placeholder Budget’ Economics John Healey has managed to avoid punishment at the hands of the bond market through a “placeholder Budget” that delayed big decisions on defence and welfare and left questions hanging over the government’s future spending plans. The Chancellor announced a raft of cost of living measures as part of his fiscal statement, funded by taxes [...]
Andy Burnham doesn’t listen to anyone but himself Opinion Burnham strives to appear inclusive but he ignores the voice of industry and defence. Signs are emerging that this is a government which doesn’t listen at all, says Eliot Wilson This week will see Chancellor John Healey deliver his Budget. At 66, he will be the oldest Chancellor of the Exchequer to present a first [...]
Rolls-Royce, Babcock shares jump on Healey’s defence borrowing plan October 26, 2026 Defence stocks were handed a boost on Monday morning following reports that Chancellor John Healey was set to borrow billions to invest in the military at the forthcoming Budget. Rolls-Royce was up nearly two per cent in early trading to 1,184.40p, while Melrose was up 1.4 per cent. Both are key players in aerospace and [...]
Healey to unveil billions in defence spending as Tories demand he resign October 25, 2026 John Healey is set to announce billions of pounds in new defence investment in Wednesday’s Budget as the Conservatives demand he resign unless he commits to spending three per cent of GDP on the military by 2030. The chancellor is expected to channel additional funding through the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank, backing [...]
BAE Systems raises guidance yet Burnham wavers on defence July 30, 2026 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 July 27, 2026 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 July 27, 2026 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 [...]