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UK defence spending

  • Monday, 2 June, 2025
    Starmer refuses to commit precise date for 3% defence spending target

    Britain to build up to 12 attack submarines as it moves to war-ready footing

    updated
    HMS Ambush, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, is partially submerged in waters
  • Saturday, 31 May, 2025
    Fred Thomas
    Risk aversion in the defence ministry is holding Britain back

    Modern armies must adopt and deploy the latest warfighting technology

    A soldier launches a Nano BUG military drone on the Salisbury Plain training area
  • Wednesday, 28 May, 2025
    UK defence
    UK’s high-tech warfare operations to be unified in defence shake-up

    Reorganisation of cyber and electronic military units will be crucial part of government’s strategic review

    UK soldiers deployed on Exercise Army Cyber Spartan
  • Tuesday, 6 May, 2025
    Royal Navy UK
    Royal Navy chief Ben Key steps down

    Change of top brass comes ahead of UK government’s strategic defence review

    Admiral Sir Ben Key
  • Friday, 18 April, 2025
    UK must expand its Arctic military position, defence review to say

    State-backed report will call for more investment in drones and tech in a new era of state conflict

    Snipers from 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment moving across snow covered ground in Norway
  • Wednesday, 2 April, 2025
    UK floats plan for joint European fund to ‘stockpile’ weapons

    ‘Supranational’ vehicle would purchase for participating states at more favourable borrowing rates

    F-35B Lightning jets on the flight deck of Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales in February 2024
  • Wednesday, 26 March, 2025
    News in-depthUK Spring Statement 2025
    Rising debt and spending demands: the squeeze on Britain’s finances — in charts

    UK gross government debt rose from 85.7% of GDP in 2019 to 101.8% in 2024

    Montage shows an empty red wallet with an HMRC Treasury logo against a data backdrop
  • Monday, 24 March, 2025
    Labour party UK
    New poll shows risks for Starmer over spending choices

    Most Labour voters believe protecting welfare is more important than boosting UK defence budget

    Montage shows Keir Starmer against a backdrop of the MoD logo, a disability sign and polling data
  • Monday, 24 March, 2025
    The Economics Show podcast31 min listen
    How big a fiscal hole is the British government in? With Paul Johnson

    The UK faces weak growth, high interest rates and a huge rise in defence spending

  • Thursday, 20 March, 2025
    EU defence
    Poland and UK discuss defence spending as Europe moves to re-arm

    Finance minister Andrzej Domański calls for smarter funding as continent moves to bolster its military power

    Soldiers from Poland and Britain stand in front of tanks at the Warsaw Armoured Brigade in Warsaw, Poland
  • Tuesday, 18 March, 2025
    UK offers bumper pay package for new national armaments director

    Salary will be up to £400,000 per year, plus an annual bonus of up to 60%

    A Challenger tank
  • Thursday, 6 March, 2025
    Robert Shrimsley
    British politics has yet to catch up with Trump’s new order

    In a world without US security guarantees, all other priorities must give way to defence

    Ellie Foreman-Peck illustration of Starmer as Lord Kitchener in the classic war poster.
  • Thursday, 6 March, 2025
    Class UK defence investments as ethical, Labour MPs urge banks

    Letter to lenders and fund managers seeks to sweep away elements of ESG rules that hamper arms companies

    A model of a Tempest fighter jet on display at the UK’s Farnborough International Airshow
  • Wednesday, 5 March, 2025
    Exchange traded funds
    EU think-tank looks to ETFs to boost European defence companies

    There has been a surge in interest in weapons makers, but current ETFs offer only global exposure

    rally in support of Ukraine
  • Tuesday, 4 March, 2025
    UK defence
    Starmer urged to use defence spending boost to revive UK manufacturing

    Make UK chief calls for support for small businesses as Europe faces pressure from US to shoulder security cost

    Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (far right) and John Healey, now defence secretary, at the Tapa Nato forward operating base in Estonia
  • Monday, 3 March, 2025
    LexAerospace & Defence
    Time for ESG investors and defence stocks to call a truce Premium content

    Governments are pledging to spend more on defence and want to make it easier for private investors to join in

    US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Oval Office
  • Friday, 28 February, 2025
    UK politics
    Development minister resigns in protest at Starmer’s aid cuts

    Move by Anneliese Dodds comes after prime minister announces plan to shift resources to defence

    Anneliese Dodds is seen arriving at a weekly Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street
  • Thursday, 27 February, 2025
    Robert Shrimsley
    Can Starmer rise to meet his Bismarck moment?

    Labour will use the geopolitical crisis to defy its own members about the new priorities for a rearming economy

    Illustration of Keir Starmer riding on the coat tails of a huge ghostly figure
  • Wednesday, 26 February, 2025
    Inside Politics
    Increasing defence budget will require tough trade-offs

    If Labour will not budge on tax, inflation and a persistent deficit may be the result

    Keir Starmer leaving the room after delivering a statement on defence spending at Downing Street. A presentation screen reads: “Secure at home/Strong abroad”
  • Tuesday, 25 February, 2025
    News in-depth
    ‘Everything has changed’: UK embarks on biggest arms drive since cold war

    Decision to plunder the development budget brings end to era of Britain as an ‘aid superpower’

    British troops on a training exercise in Finland
  • Tuesday, 25 February, 2025
    UK to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027

    Starmer’s announcement of ‘biggest sustained rise’ since cold war comes ahead of Trump meeting on Thursday

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement on Defence spending at Downing Street
  • Tuesday, 25 February, 2025
    Inside Politics
    Labour cannot ignore Trump’s impact on defence

    The tough choices the government needs to make will inevitably mean talking about defence spending in the open

    A montage of Keir Starmer and Donald Trump
  • Friday, 21 February, 2025
    Political Fix podcast44 min listen
    ‘America is now an adversary’

    Plus, inside the UK's 'right-wing Davos'

  • Thursday, 20 February, 2025
    Inside Politics
    In Europe’s crisis Starmer and Badenoch should learn from Sunak

    Government and opposition need to adapt approach to tackle a grave situation wrought by Donald Trump’s administration

    Kemi Badenoch in the House of Commons
  • Thursday, 20 February, 2025
    Bronwen Maddox
    Defence is the greatest public benefit of all

    Spending on pensions and healthcare is more popular with voters but Europe and the UK must make politically tough choices

    Illustration of three hands putting coins into a slot on a tank-shaped piggy bank
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