Category: Defence

The statement made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, in Maidenhead on 30 June 2026.

Thank you very much Rachel and thank you Dan and welcome to everyone here this morning.

It’s very good to see you, and particularly to see the representatives from our armed services here in the audience, and can I, through you, thank all of those who serve our country and have served our country.

And let me say standing here, it is really inspiring to see the work you do here at Malloy.

Building capabilities like this workhorse drone that is being used in Ukraine. And this incredible heavy-lift, I think that’s the biggest drone I’ve seen, heavy lift capability, which will soon be deployed to Ukraine.

That gives you a glimpse and a sense of what’s going on the frontline in Ukraine which is so important.

Thank you for all the work that’s being done here and for the part that you are playing, together obviously with brilliant companies right across the United Kingdom in defence of our nation, and that is what I’m here to talk about.

The first place I wanted to start was by saying this. As Prime Minister, you get to meet people from all walks of life, up and down the United Kingdom and I know how worried they are about the state of our world.

They see the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East impacting on our stability, driving up the cost of living and they’re tired of feeling at the mercy of events beyond our shores.

We see countries that are arming and tensions that are rising – a more dangerous and volatile world than at any time for decades.

We see the horrendous human toll of these conflicts which cuts against our values of justice, sovereignty and that simple British impulse that bullies and dictators cannot be allowed to push people around.

And we also know that these threats are not remote. We see foreign states targeting our nation as well. 

Thugs hired by foreign powers conducting violence, vandalism and arson on our streets.

Disinformation aimed at sowing division and stoking disorder, spreading lies and undermining our democracy. Russian ships targeting the underwater cables that carry the data on which modern life depends.

And we also see on the battlefield in Ukraine that the very nature of conflict is changing before our eyes.

Despite having a limited navy, limited traditional air power and limited armour, Ukrainian forces have destroyed the Black Sea fleet, they’ve struck deep into Russian territory and stopped the advance of one of the biggest armies in the world.

They’ve done it through sheer courage – yes but also by embracing technology.

They’ve integrated drones into their fighting like never before, understanding that the ability to innovate and produce at speed and at scale is more vital than ever to military power and that AI will accelerate this transformation even further.

 Against that background, NATO is more vital than ever.

 Yes, we recognise that things have changed here too.

While the US remains our key ally, I have been clear that in order to sustain NATO, the most successful military alliance the world has ever seen, European nations must take primary responsibility for their own defence.

These are the changes and the challenges which have defined my premiership and that will continue to shape our times.

And look – my view has been the same since day one.

We must stand more firmly on our own two feet.

We must do what it takes to meet this new world head on – to keep our country safe and seize the opportunities that come from investing in our sovereign strength.  

That is what we are doing.

That’s why we have reversed, at last the corrosive hollowing out of our armed forces.

 And it’s why we’re transforming a defence programme that frankly for too long has been underfunded and unsuited to the threats that we face.

I’ve also been clear since day one that we do this, not because we want war – but because we want to avoid war.

We lived through Iraq. We learned from those mistakes, and we don’t want to repeat them.

I showed that when I chose not to join the war in Iran.

We want our people to be able to live in a world defined by peace, stability and the rule of law.

But the paradox of peace is that when the world is arming and aggression is rising, the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it.

 The best way to defend is to deter, to have the strength to make your adversaries think again before they act.

And that is what we are delivering. Last year we published our Strategic Defence Review, setting out the capabilities we need for a changed world.

And today, I am proud to publish our new Defence Investment Plan.

This plan delivers on last year’s Review, but in light of our rapidly changing world, the changing nature of conflict and the imminent and growing threats we face, it goes further still.

I want to thank the Defence Secretary, CDS here and the Chancellor for their work to sharpen and strengthen the plan in recent weeks so that we can set out today, how we will transform our armed forces while also giving industry the certainty they need to invest and giving our allies clarity on our intent, ahead of the NATO summit next week.

This plan represents our best judgement of what the country needs to meet this moment.

And it is a platform on which I know my successor will build.

Now unlike previous governments we have taken care to fully cost this Plan. Examining the defence budget line by line and that’s vital because it is how you expose the necessary trade-offs and expose the arguments that just don’t stack up.

You have some people in this debate who underplay the threat and deny the need to prioritise defence and security.

You also have those saying we can fund defence without making sacrifices in other areas of capital spending.

And you have those arguing that we can just raise borrowing,

Put it all on the never never.

And let’s be clear, defence bonds are just borrowing by another name.

We’ve looked at this very carefully but the fact is doing this through borrowing would push interest rates higher, at a time when one pound in every ten already goes on paying debt interest.

And this government has fought hard to bring the public finances under control.

And it has paid off, helping to bring inflation and mortgage rates down.

We should not sacrifice that now.

Because this is the point that often gets missed: strong public finances are a fundamental part of our strength in this world. Lose control of them and we’re not just poorer, we are much less secure.

Slash funding to our public services in favour of defence – and we would be fundamentally weaker as a nation – more fractured as a society, less able to defend ourselves when our enemies prey on social division.

So the hard truth is that there are no easy answers.

But the settlement I am setting out today is the right choice for the country.

It delivers the decisive action we need on defence in a way that is within our fiscal rules.

And that will not take resources away from day to day spending on frontline services like health and education.

Instead, it is funded by reallocating spending from across government departments – reallocating capital budgets by one penny in every pound whilst still maintaining public investment at the highest sustained levels since the 1970s.

It means departments making better use of assets like underused land and it means those departments with the largest capital budgets contributing more.

Therefore some capital projects – for example on roads and energy, which are important, but not immediately vital will no longer go ahead as planned.

But this is about taking the necessary choices – the right choices to protect our nation.

It is because we have taken these hard-edged decisions that we are able to increase our spending on defence.

We are already delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the 1980s – £270 billion over the Spending Review period. 

And I can announce today that, under the Defence Investment Plan we are increasing this by a further £15 billion, setting a new record of spending almost £300 billion over the next four years to back our armed forces and strengthen our national security.

It’s true to say there’s has been a huge focus on the numbers here. So let me take a moment to set them out in more detail.

Before we came into office, so two years ago, this country spent £54 billion a year on defence.

We are taking this to almost £80 billion a year by 2029. That is a real terms increase of 27% – from spending 2.3% of GDP on defence in 2024 we are raising it to 2.7%, putting us on a trajectory to reach 3% in the next Parliament, which must be the number one priority at the next Spending Review.

At last year’s NATO summit, I committed to spend 5% of GDP on our wider security – covering things like energy security and critical infrastructure, as well as defence.

The Defence Investment Plan, published today, takes us to 4.2% under that commitment.

By any measure, this is a huge, historic shift for our nation – and a legacy in which I take pride.

And we must use this investment wisely because I know that, in the past defence spending has sometimes been seen as a bottomless pit.

People see the money going in, but they don’t feel the benefits.

So this time must be different. We can’t just spend more – we’ve got to spend better.

That includes driving real reforms within the Ministry of Defence to get greater value from our investment, accelerating innovation and procurement and reducing non-military spending, for example on civil service staff.

We have examined every penny under this Plan, to make sure it delivers real, positive change for our country.

And we can see that it will do so in three ways.

First, it will make the British people safer.

It focuses our resources squarely on the readiness of our Armed Forces, reversing the cuts of recent years, prioritising the availability of our forces and assets, rebuilding ammunition stockpiles, ensuring we are more ready to fight and defend our nation and better prepared to win.

It will also make the British people safer by driving a generational transformation of our Armed Forces, learning the lessons of Ukraine in order to modernise our military – equipped to fight the wars both of today and tomorrow.

 And we are backing this by putting more than £5 billion into drones and autonomous weapons – the largest ever UK investment in this technology.

That means we will build a new hybrid Royal Navy so that when our frigates move to intercept a threat to British interests, like a Russian ship in our waters, they will do so with outriders – uncrewed ships, above and below the surface, their AI systems working in unison with our warships, operating as a single integrated force.

This will be joined by a next generation RAF Typhoons flying with autonomous wingmen, making them invisible to enemy detection.

And we will build an Army that is ten times more lethal – with attack drones flying alongside our Apache helicopters, a new fleet of surveillance drones collecting intelligence and finding targets and a surge in low-cost one-way attack drones which have proved so effective in Ukraine.

On top of this, we are investing in long range missiles, armoured vehicles and counter-drone defence systems.

We are investing over £500 million in new technology and capabilities for our Commandos and our Special Forces which are already the envy of the world.

And we are investing £115 million to raise our defences against the threats of AI.

This is about harnessing cutting-edge technology on every front to multiply our strength and defend our nation. 

Second, this plan will benefit the British people because it uses defence spending to strengthen our economy, creating almost 60,000 jobs.

Our motto here is “back British” – with every pound spent, wherever possible on backing British workers, businesses and innovators.

Delivering a defence dividend which brings SMEs and start-ups into the defence supply chains and pays off in every region and every community.

And the fact is – defence jobs are different. They are high skilled and well paid.

They offer a career path, training, and a greater sense of meaning – the chance to step into our national story and play your part in full. That means pride – in yourself and your community.

You know towards the end of last year I was up at the BAE plant in Warton in Lancashire and I met a young lad called Jack. He works there as an apprentice – following in his dad’s footsteps. And because of the Typhoon contract this government agreed, we did not just secure his job but his dad’s job too – and that of the whole workforce.

It’s moments like that, where you can see that someone’s future has just opened up before them. 

That is what my politics has always been about and that’s what this investment will deliver.

And to make sure that we keep winning contracts like that, I can announce today that we are creating a new £50 billion Defence Export facility to support British defence businesses to compete to create more jobs, pride and opportunity up and down the country.

This is the largest expansion of UK Export Finance support in its 100-year history and a once-in-a-generation boost to the British defence industry.

Third, this plan will benefit our nation because it enables us to strengthen our international leadership and build a more European NATO.

This is not to the exclusion of the US, but to strengthen the transatlantic alliance which keeps our country safe.

This demands a decisive strengthening of European capabilities.

That’s why we’re developing deep precision strike weapons with Germany.

It’s why we’re building frigates with Norway to hunt Russian submarines when they come near our waters.

And it’s why we’re going further now under the Defence Investment Plan – allocating £400 million for the UK’s contribution to the Multilateral Defence Mechanism to finance and procure defence equipment with our allies and support a path to achieving our NATO spending targets.

Moreover, we are renewing our commitment to build Tempest fighter jets with an £8.6 billion investment under the Global Combat Air Programme with Italy and Japan.

Now this is about developing sixth-generation stealth fighters that will secure our skies for decades to come and re-build the foundation of a sovereign British aircraft industry.

I can also confirm that we are bringing our investment in renewing our nuclear deterrent to £64 billion – a truly national effort, building new submarines, developing a new sovereign warhead and buying 12 F35A fighter jets. 

Maintaining our role in guaranteeing British and European security and leaving our country in a much better and much stronger state than we found it.

Before I finish, I just want to say a word about Ukraine.

I think back to my visit to Kyiv at the beginning of the war and the horror I saw that day.

The evidence of atrocities, photographs of murdered civilians, blindfolded, hands tied behind their backs. Shot in the head.

I heard the stories of survivors and I have carried that with me ever since.

I swore to myself that I would do all I can to back Ukraine in this fight. 

Because it is right and just and because, it is an attack on the liberties and freedoms that we have always fought for.

And be in no doubt, the outcome of this war will shape our lives for decades to come.

If Russia were to win in Ukraine, Putin would not stop there but turn his gaze to other allies, bringing even greater instability to our continent, even greater impacts on our security and the cost of living and an even greater need to mobilise yet more resources for our defence.

 But the good news is that Ukraine is holding strong. They are increasingly able to push Russia back on the battlefield.

And there are clear signs, that as Russia’s losses mount and their economy struggles, the mood in Moscow is turning against Putin’s war.

So this is the moment to ramp up the pressure – backing Ukraine’s defence and turning the screws on Russia’s economy.

That is what we’re doing. And the Defence Investment Plan will maintain our support in full.

I have been proud to stand with Ukraine and with President Zelenskyy over the last two years and to lead the Coalition of the Willing together with France and Germany to support a just and lasting peace – part of our work to restore Britain’s standing in the world.

 It is a great credit to this nation that every Prime Minister since the invasion has stood full square behind Ukraine and I have no doubt that will continue for as long as it takes.

Because look – moments like this ask fundamental questions of all of us.

 Not just about how we respond, but about who we are as a nation and who we choose to be.

 And I am clear: it is simply not in our nature to shrink inward resigned to be mere passengers, buffeted by events.

 The Britain I believe in finds its greatness in these moments. In times of crisis, we stand tall, we summon that British spirit of grit and resolve and seize the moment with both hands…

 Proud of our values. Proud of who we are.

 And I see that greatness in the people I meet.  

I see it in the crews of our nuclear submarines that I’ve met coming in off their long patrols – one man returning home to meet his 4-month-old baby for the first time.

 I see it in our troops defending NATO’s eastern flank and our Royal Marines protecting the northern frontier.

 I see it our carrier crews who are out there right now deterring Russia in the North Atlantic.

 I see it in our RAF pilots, putting themselves in harm’s way to defend our allies in the Gulf.

 But I also see that greatness in all those who stand behind the frontline

The workers in our NHS, our public services, our energy sector, our apprentices and engineers building the technologies we need: all of those on whom our national resilience depends.

 That’s why I know we will continue to rise to this moment. 

 Not just to weather the coming storms, but to use this moment to reach towards a better future – the stronger, fairer country that the British people deserve and that I have sought to build.

 And this plan is a decisive step on that journey.

 Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.

The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on 30 June 2026.

This record investment puts the security of the British public first, transforming our Armed Forces and giving them the funding and equipment they need to fight and defend our nation.

The world is a more dangerous and volatile place, so it is only right we are boosting the number of troops on the ground, rebuilding ammunition stockpiles and investing in cutting edge technology to ensure we outpace our adversaries for generations to come.

Every pound in this plan will work twice, delivering economic growth and opportunity for the British people, and supporting more than half a million jobs by the end of the decade, as well as reinforcing our national security.