Burnley and Padiham’s MP has hailed the Prime Ministers announcement that defence spending is to be significantly bolstered, after raising the issue multiple times since he was elected.
Speaking from Poland Rishi Sunak announced the biggest strengthening of the UK’s national defence in a generation, with a fully funded plan to grow the defence budget to 2.5% of GDP by 2030.
Speaking alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, the PM said we are at a turning point in European security and urged allies to step up.
With external threats from Russia, Iran and China, Antony Higginbotham MP believes it is “absolutely vital” and a “step in the right direction”. It is well known that Mr Higginbotham has been calling for an increase in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, including when he welcomed a previous increase in 2021.
Under the latest announcement UK defence spending will increase immediately, and then is set to rise steadily to reach £87 billion at the end the decade – hitting the 2.5% of GDP target by 2030.
Commenting Antony said:
The world is less stable and more contested than at any other point in my lifetime. And it’s been a real worry for some time that we have forgotten that peace does not come about by accident, but only by having strong defences and an alliance of nations willing to look out for one another.
In the last decade we’ve seen North Korea launch a cyber attack on the NHS, Russia poison people on UK streets, and Iran target british ships on which our trade is reliant. All of these things are a threat to people here in Burnley and Padiham, and so it’s right we respond to them by bolstering our own position.
And we should also be clear that this funding increase is going to generate jobs and prosperity here at home. On our doorstep we have BAE System, MBDA Missile Systems, Rolls Royce, and a whole host of other businesses – large, medium and small – who will be in line to benefit from this uplift.
The first duty of any Government is the protection of our country, and through this announcement we are ensuring we meet that mandate whilst also creating the high skilled jobs that accompanies it.
The Prime Minister has set out three areas of focus for our bolstered defence budget:
- Firing up the UK defence industrial base: Investing at least an additional £10 billion over the next decade on munitions production, delivering high-quality jobs and investment across the UK and ensuring we have rapid production capacity and stockpiles of next-generation munitions.
- Modernising our Armed Forces: Radically reforming defence procurement and creating a new Defence Innovation Agency to ensure the UK is at the cutting edge of modern warfare technology, with at least 5% of the defence budget to be committed to R&D.
- Backing Ukraine’s defence: Ukraine’s security is our security. As part of this plan, the Government will commit an additional £500 million this year for the ammunition, air defence and drones Ukraine needs; the largest-ever single delivery of military equipment to Ukraine’s frontlines; and a cast-iron commitment to maintain existing levels of support to Ukraine for as long as it Is needed.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:
In a world that is the most dangerous it has been since the end of the Cold War, we cannot be complacent. As our adversaries align, we must do more to defend our country, our interests, and our values.
That is why today I have announced the biggest strengthening of our national defence for a generation. We will increase defence spending to a new baseline of 2.5% of GDP by 2030 – a plan that delivers an additional £75 billion for defence by the end of the decade and secures our place as by far the largest defence power in Europe.
Today is a turning point for European security and a landmark moment in the defence of the United Kingdom. It is a generational investment in British security and British prosperity, which makes us safer at home and stronger abroad.”
This is a fully-funded plan to deliver the biggest transformation of our national defence since the Cold War, moving from an aspiration to spend 2.5% by an unspecified date to a costed commitment to do so in 2030.
