New body to run military housing in Ministry of Defence overhaul Ministers are set to create a new quango to run military housing after concluding the Ministry of Defence was not up to the job. The new Defence Housing Service, to be announced by Defence Secretary John Healey on Monday, will take over management of service accommodation after years of complaints about poor quality homes. It [...]
Defence secretary: there will be “consequences” from weak economic forecasts Politics Defence Secretary John Healey has warned there will be “consequences” from recent weaker economic forecasts in the nearing Autumn Budget. The minister insisted no final decisions had been made for the upcoming Budget, which will be delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on 26 November. However, he acknowledged that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) saw [...]
Boots on the ground in Ukraine? Brits don’t want to fund it Opinion With an electorate that doesn't back higher defence spending, Healey's promise to put troops in Ukraine looks like political grandstanding.
Cohort’s shares rally after soaring defence demand spikes profit July 16, 2025 Defence tech group Cohort shot past market expectations for the year ending April 30 as geopolitical tensions helped spike demand. The London-listed firm, whose customers included the UK Ministry of Defence, recorded a pre-tax profit of £25.6m, up 29 per cent from 2024. This came as revenue jumped 33 per cent to £270m as the [...]
Housing for servicepeople should be ‘defence policy priority’, Tories say June 18, 2025 Housing for servicepeople should be a “defence policy priority”, the Conservatives have said as they unveiled their new defence strategy. On Friday, Iran launched an attack on Israel in retaliation to Israel’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out US involvement, with the caveat that he is “not [...]
Welfare U-turns show Starmer puts party ahead of country June 5, 2025 The Conservatives are the only political party able to say they take the country’s £100bn debt bill and £65bn welfare bill seriously, says Jamila Robertson We have heard the government assert time and again, that they are taking the difficult decisions. Almost a year on, with inflation up from two per cent to 3.5 per [...]
UK must be prepared for conflict in Europe or Atlantic, defence review to conclude June 2, 2025 The UK plans to build up to 12 new nuclear-powered attack submarines, it will be announced on Monday as the government unveils its strategic defence review. The 130-page document will conclude UK must prepare for conflict in Europe or the Atlantic and move to “war-fighting readiness” as a countermeasure to Russian aggression. But Sir Keir [...]
Migrant daily arrivals top 1,000 for first time this year June 1, 2025 More than 1,100 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel on Saturday, the highest number recorded on a single day so far this year. The latest Home Office figures show that 1,194 migrants arrived in 18 boats, bringing the provisional annual total so far to 14,811. This is 42 per cent higher [...]
Government plan to build munitions factories to ‘better deter our adversaries’ May 31, 2025 Building at least six munitions and energetics factories will “better deter our adversaries”, defence secretary John Healey has said as part of plans for an “always on” weapons pipeline. The Government has pledged £1.5bn as part of the strategic defence review (SDR) to set up at least six factories, and will support the procurement of [...]
‘No doubt’ UK will spend three per cent of GDP on defence by mid-2030s, Healey says May 31, 2025 Defence spending at three per cent of GDP by 2034 is a firm commitment, John Healey has said. The government has previously set out its “ambition to reach three per cent in the next parliament”, after meeting its pledge to ratchet up defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by April 2027. But the [...]