Spring Statement 2025: New growth board to oversee Britain’s defence push March 26, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has revealed further details of plans to boost Britain’s defence industry, including reforms of the procurement system and the appointment of a new oversight board. The government had already announced an extra £2.2bn will be plugged into the military amid concerns over US President Donald Trump’s commitment to European defence. Speaking in [...]
Spring Statement 2025: £2.2bn defence and weapons boost, Reeves to unveil March 25, 2025 Rachel Reeves is set to unveil a £2.2bn boost for the UK’s defence spending at the Spring Statement, including cash to kit out Royal Navy ships with laser weapons. The Chancellor vowed to deliver “security and national renewal” but warned “we have to move quickly in a changing world” amid rising uncertainty over future European [...]
BAE: UBS hikes price target to 2,450p March 24, 2025 UBS analysts have claimed that markets are failing to account for an expected jump in defence expenditure by European nations despite the recent surge in the value of weapons companies, such as BAE. In an analyst note, UBS analysts upgraded BAE’s stock price target from 1,600p to 2,450p and European weapons dealers Saab and Thales [...]
EU defence: Why ‘buy European’ really means ‘buy French’ March 24, 2025 The EU's 'buy European' defence spending plan is protectionist and short-sighted. And it really just means 'buy French', writes Eliot Wilson.
Ukraine peacekeeping talks reaching ‘military plan’ stage, says Starmer March 20, 2025 Talks on the Ukraine peacekeeping force are reaching the stage of a “military plan” aimed at “keeping the skies safe”, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The Prime Minister has said the “timetable now is coming into focus”, and that if a deal comes to fruition, the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ needs to be ready [...]
Defence: Building submarines is ‘blueprint’ for UK growth, Starmer says March 20, 2025 Building new submarines in Barrow-in-Furness is a “blueprint” for how increasing defence spending can boost prosperity across the UK, the Prime Minister has said. Sir Keir Starmer made the comments ahead of a visit to the town at the heart of Britain’s submarine-building industry. Sir Keir is expected to lay the keel for the next [...]
Reeves to announce £2bn defence boost to secure more orders from allies March 14, 2025 The government has pledged an extra £2bn to support UK defence exporters in a bid to unlock more orders from international allies. This increases the lending capacity of the UK Export Finance’s (UKEF), the country’s official export credit agency, to £10bn. The UKEF’s Direct Lending scheme provides loans to other countries, which allow them to [...]
Preparing for war: What we didn’t learn from the pandemic March 12, 2025 The health service may not have been ready for the pandemic, but the rest of government was even less prepared. As we brace for a potential war, it’s time policy makers listen to that warning, says Joe Hill Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian general, famously asserted that war was the “continuation of politics by other [...]
Will Rachel Reeves end up being a right-wing Chancellor by accident? March 10, 2025 With poor growth and pressure on defence spending, Rachel Reeves faces having to make welfare cuts the likes of which haven’t been since the days of Nigel Lawson. But unlike Lawson, her spending plans are not being driven by a programme of reform, but by panic, says Eliot Wilson Rachel Reeves cannot have expected it [...]
Excluding women in defence is costing business March 8, 2025 Western defence has made massive strides, but the sector has a massive gender problem - and it's costing business, writes Naomi Hulme.