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. Thye 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… £5 billion 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 1.5 billion 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.
