Starmer to give missiles to Ukraine paid for with £70m interest on Russian assets
Keir Starmer has announced a fresh package of military aid for Ukraine – this time paid for using the UK's interest haul from frozen Russian assets.
The UK will send 350 advanced air defence missiles, built in Britain and adapted in record time for ground launch, using £70m of interest raised through the government's extraordinary revenue acceleration (ERA) scheme. The move marks the first time the UK has used Russia-linked funds to directly bankroll weaponry for Kyiv.
The missiles will be deployed through UK-supplied Raven systems – five more of which are en route to Ukraine, taking the total to 13. Originally designed as air-to-air missiles, ASRAAMs have been retrofitted by RAF engineers and MBDA UK to fire from the back of a British-made truck. The conversion took just three months.
Starmer, speaking before Nato's annual summit in The Hague, said: 'Russia, not Ukraine, should pay the price for Putin's barbaric and illegal war. It is only right we use seized Russian assets to strengthen Ukraine's air defences. The security of Ukraine is vital to our own.'
The defence secretary, John Healey, said the missiles would save lives and were proof that the UK's military and industrial base could adapt to the needs of modern war. He accused Moscow of continuing indiscriminate missile attacks and made clear that 'Putin is not serious about peace'.
The new package is part of the UK's largest-ever yearly commitment to Ukraine – £4.5bn in military aid. It follows a £1.6bn deal in March for more than 5,000 air defence missiles and a separate £350m investment to ramp up drone deliveries tenfold.
Ministers are also using the Nato summit to discuss escalation in the Middle East and to push allies on long-term defence spending.
Ahead of the Nato summit, the prime minister had agreed with Volodymyr Zelenskyy to work closely together on military production between the UK and Ukraine.
After meeting in No 10 on Monday, the pair announced a new military partnership in front of soldiers from Britain, Ukraine and other western allies.
The Ukrainian president has been invited to the summit but will not take part in its main discussions, which will be highly focused on defence spending.
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Times
39 minutes ago
- Times
SNP's ‘student politicians' snub submarine welding centre
Sir Keir Starmer's government is expected to step in to fund an ambitious defence facility on the Clyde after the SNP's 'student union' politicians refused grant funding on ideological grounds. A £2.5 million grant from Scottish Enterprise, the national economic development agency, for a submarine welding centre was withheld due to a party ban on 'munitions' funding. Rolls-Royce, which is ready to support the project by providing £11 million worth of specialist equipment, expressed 'dismay' at the news last week. It said the project had been classified as a 'munitions' scheme solely on the basis that it would 'support the construction of naval vessels'. • SNP ban on 'munitions' funds puts Scottish shipbuilding on the line In a letter seen by The Times, Steve Carlier, president of submarines at Rolls-Royce, warned John Swinney, the first minister, that the project 'cannot continue' without the public funding and was at risk of being formally cancelled within days. The funding, which Scottish Enterprise said had not been formally applied for, is believed to have been rejected as the Scottish government's definition of 'weapons or ammunition' would include a 'military submarine', rather than directly relating to any arms. Rolls-Royce has disputed that it is a 'munitions' company. All UK military submarines are powered by nuclear propulsion, regardless of whether or not they have the capacity to carry nuclear weapons, and Rolls-Royce technology is not used for firing warheads. John Healey, the UK defence secretary, told The Sunday Show, on BBC1 that he could 'hardly believe' a Scottish nationalist government would stand in the way of skills development in Scotland. He said: 'We have a long-term partnership with Rolls-Royce who are central to some of the military equipment that keep us all safe. Rolls-Royce want to set up a new welding skills centre, not just to support its munitions business but also to support Scotland's shipyards [to offer] essential skills, new opportunities for young people. 'If the Scottish SNP government won't step up to support skills and the future of jobs in Scotland then we will. It really strikes me as student union politics. This is not a serious government concerned about the opportunities for young people in the future or the skills base for Scotland, or indeed the industry and innovation for the future.' The SNP also has an ambition to rid Scotland of nuclear weapons, which are based at Faslane naval base on the Clyde. Healey added: 'This is a deterrent that for over 70 years has been our guarantor of security in the UK. It is what Putin fears most and the UK is the only country that commits its nuclear deterrent in full to the defence of our Nato allies. Strong deterrence is required and vital to keep people safe in the future.' • Most Scots want to keep UK's nuclear deterrent, poll shows Britain is also engaged in highly sensitive talks to purchase fighter jets capable of firing tactical nuclear weapons, in a major expansion of the deterrent intended to counter the growing threat posed by Russia. The move would represent the biggest development in the UK's deterrent since the Cold War and a recognition that the world has entered a more dangerous nuclear era. Healey would not reveal where the new fighters would be based but the prospect of nuclear-armed jets being deployed from RAF Lossiemouth, or on manoeuvres at the air force's ancillary training and support bases in Scotland, will incense the SNP and its core anti-nuclear supporters. Mairi Gougeon, the Scottish rural affairs secretary, told the BBC that the welding centre was never eligible for funding thanks to the 'long-standing' policy of the SNP government. She said: 'I think the key difference here between ourselves and the UK government is that when we have principles, we stick to them.' Gougeon said Scottish ministers 'completely understand' the 'really unprecedented threats' the UK faced on the world stage and confirmed the SNP supported the increased defence spending announced by the prime minister. She added: 'That doesn't mean that we can't also still maintain the policy positions that we've had for quite a long time and have been long standing within our party, that we don't support the use of public finance for the manufacture of munitions and neither do we support that for nuclear weapons.' A Scottish government spokesman said: 'We are committed to ensuring Scotland is the home of manufacturing innovation, but the Scottish government's long-standing policy position is that it does not use public money to support the manufacture of munitions. 'We recognise the important role of the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors in the Scottish economy and we regularly engage with a range of companies, alongside ADS Scotland as the industry body. 'We are investing up to £2 million to develop engineering skills in the Glasgow city region, designed by the Clyde Maritime Cluster in partnership with Skills Development Scotland. 'The Scottish government has yet to see the detail of the Defence Spending Review, but we remain firmly opposed to the threat, use and basing of nuclear weapons as a deterrent in Scotland.'
Times
39 minutes ago
- Times
A rise in defence spending will kick-start the industrial future
The decision at the Nato summit this week to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035 is a seismic shift for all of us and will have massive implications for the budgets of every government department over the next decade. When we consider in the high levels of debt and tax, this raises fundamental questions for government in allocating resources at a time when the growth of tax receipts is constrained by the paucity of economic growth. Right across western Europe the challenge caused by the financial crisis of 2008 led to a step change in the long-term trajectory of financial growth. Put simply we have come up short. The challenge for us is how we strengthen the economy in the midst of the challenges we face? A failure to move the needle on this will result in living standards continuing to be squeezed and the impossibility of funding the growth of defence spending, resulting in painful cuts elsewhere. • Ageing and sick population will lead to £16bn annual tax rise Events have conspired to leverage massive costs on to the public purse: Covid, the cost of living crisis, largely as a knock-on effect of the Ukrainian conflict, have led to levels of fiscal debt typically only seen at times of war. Time of war is an apt phrase as politicians and wider society have a growing realisation that times have changed. Global instability and the threat of war is very real. Though in these islands we have excellence in many aspects of our armed forces, to a large extent our military capability has been hollowed out. The need to enhance defence capability and at pace is stark. There is now a race to invest and if we take last year's defence spending of £53.9 billion as our base, we are going to have to find by 2035 an extra £60 billion plus a year to invest in defence. Where is this to come from? Starmer's government are for now, silent on the source of the majority of this funding. Difficult choices are going to have to be made. • SNP ban on 'munitions' funds puts Scottish shipbuilding on the line Short of a sustained increase in economic growth there is going to be a squeeze elsewhere on spending. Austerity will be a price to be paid as a consequence of having to invest in our national security. Investment in defence, though, can be a lever and transformative in itself in generating economic growth. With the increase in defence spending requiring £60 billion-plus, it is beyond doubt that we need to make sure that Scotland gets its fair share, and I know the Scottish government will be standing up for Scotland's interest in making it happen. There is a long history of the SNP doing just that. From Nicola Sturgeon making the case for shipbuilding jobs at Govan and numerous MPs making the case for defence spending in Scotland, most notably Angus Robertson and Stewart MacDonald, who championed the industry and in particular defended Scotland's historic regiments — a campaign led by Annabelle Ewing. It is therefore of no surprise — and consistent with the long-term position of the SNP — to read John Swinney being quoted in The Times this week that he had no objections if a company came to Scotland to set up a munitions factory, while making the point that the Russian threat is very real. We speak of our support for Ukraine. We speak of their right to defend their sovereignty. There is a need to replenish munitions in support of the defence of Ukraine. In doing this, though, there are red lines and that means munitions supplied in the needs of strategic defence interests and never in situations such as Gaza where civilians are targeted. Indeed, the SNP website makes the point that 'defence manufacturing infrastructure in Scotland is fundamental to our national engineering and manufacturing sector'. Today in Scotland we have excellence in aerospace, defence, security and space. The challenge is leveraging in investment and accelerating economic growth that is critical to our financial security as a consequence of the need to invest in our national security. ADS, the umbrella body for the industry, points out that the sector today employs 33,500 workers and delivers a value added of £3.2 billion, with an output per worker of £95,000. These figures make it self-evident that there is an economic prize in attracting defence investment into Scotland. We all want high growth, high wage, high productivity Scotland. A society that drives investment in skills and innovation. Think for a minute of our industrial past and leading-edge electrical engineering businesses such as Ferranti, (now Leonardo). Scotland is at the forefront of innovation in both defence and in civil applications. We need to re-engineer to capture that pioneering spirit, not just for defence capabilities but to use that opportunity as a lever through defence diversification to create a broader and deeper industrial and advanced manufacturing base. John Swinney is right to demonstrate that Scotland is open for investment. An increase in defence spending is coming. We should seize the opportunities out of this to kick-start investment in advanced manufacturing through, among other things, utilising our world-class academic base to develop the technologies and businesses for the future. Investment in defence, will kick-start the delivery of an industrial future for Scotland. Ian Blackford was the SNP leader in the House of Commons from 2017 to 2022, and an MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 2015 to 2024.
Times
39 minutes ago
- Times
SNP faces pressure to confront pacifists and embrace defence industry
John Swinney is facing pressure from within the SNP to confront his party's 'pacifists' and fully embrace the defence industry in Scotland. The first minister is understood to have faced intensive lobbying, including from SNP Holyrood backbenchers, to relax a ban on using taxpayers' cash to support munitions projects. The policy has led to damaging accusations of playing 'student politics' at a time of global turmoil, and there is a growing fear within sections of the SNP that continuing to defend the stance is becoming untenable. Writing in The Sunday Times today, Ian Blackford, a party grandee and a Swinney loyalist, insists 'times have changed' and investment in defence would 'kick-start the delivery of an industrial future for Scotland'. Meanwhile, Professor James Mitchell, one of the leading authorities on the SNP, warned that Swinney was at risk of repeating a historic mistake the party made in the 1970s, when hostility to defence projects was a factor in its defeat in a crucial by-election. That result, in Glasgow Garscadden in 1978 after the SNP candidate demanded a local shipyard stop building warships, resurrected Donald Dewar's political career and halted a surge in momentum for Scottish nationalism. ADS Scotland, which represents the defence sector, said it was engaged in an 'honest conversation' with the Scottish government about its policies. These also include a ban on the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) investing in organisations 'primarily engaged in the manufacture of munitions or weapons' on 'ethical' grounds, despite the need for armaments for causes such as Ukraine's defence against Russia. ADS urged the first minister to take new steps to make sure the defence industry operated in an environment of 'understanding and support' in Scotland. Any 'political hostility' or 'reticence' to back it, the body said, was 'out of step with current challenges'. The SNP's approach has come under major scrutiny since it emerged in May that a new state-of-the-art welding skills centre was at risk of being cancelled after a planned £2.5 million grant from Scottish Enterprise was axed because it was deemed a 'munitions' project. SNP ministers later admitted this had been because it would be used to aid the building of Royal Navy attack submarines. Swinney had previously insisted he would stick by the policy, with Mairi Gougeon, his cabinet minister, claiming it was based on SNP 'principles' and would not change. However, the first minister this week opened the door to a U-turn, suggesting the policy may be 'reconsidered' in light of rising global threats. Mitchell, professor of public policy at the University of Edinburgh, said there had 'always been a strong strain of pacifism and anti-militarism' within the SNP. This dates back to the Second World War, he said, when leading figures in the then tiny party took differing positions over whether Scots should join the British war effort against the Nazis. This hardened in the 1960s, due to an influx of Labour members upset at the party abandoning the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and Mitchell said the party had retained 'anti-military tendencies' ever since. While not officially a pacifist party and having endorsed Nato membership following a tight vote in 2012, which led to the resignation of some MSPs, the leading academic said there remains 'a pacifist element to the membership'. 'The current international situation creates headaches for the SNP,' he said. 'It wants to support Nato but would it support the position of increasing defence spending to five per cent of GDP? 'The SNP has managed to avoid many difficult questions and adopt a high moral tone because it has not had to answer any difficult questions. But times have changed. 'As the international situation has become more fraught, the SNP faces a repeat of the challenges it faced half a century ago in Garscadden. 'Does it support or oppose defence spending that would provide or protect jobs, or does it oppose increased defence spending?' Leading figures in the defence industry have called for the Scottish government to relax its ban, potentially relating to the definition of 'munitions' which would mean projects such as the welding centre would not fall foul of the ban. Within days of The Times revealing that the project, which Rolls-Royce had committed to supporting with £11 million of equipment, was facing the axe, the UK government agreed to step in and provide the funding instead, in what was seen as a political victory for Labour. Stewart McDonald, the former MP who was the SNP's defence spokesman at Westminster for six years, has also backed a rethink, saying it pains him to see that his party is 'not evolving with the serious times we live in'. There is concern within the defence industry that the approach of the SNP, which has embraced slogans such as 'bairns not bombs', has served to tacitly endorse serious protests at headquarters of Scottish defence firms, which have put staff in danger. A defence industry source said: 'Student politics are fine, but it's no way to either run a country or respond to global insecurity' Significantly, Swinney is believed to have been told by several of his backbenchers that they would favour a move away from the munitions funding ban, with a feeling the party has been made to look weak and out of touch following repeated attacks from Holyrood's unionist parties. The UK government's commitment to significantly boosting defence spending also has the potential to create thousands of well-paid jobs and boost the Scottish economy. The defence sector north of the border has 16,250 employees, generated £3.3 billion in annual turnover and accounted for £1.3 billion in gross value added (GVA), a measure of its contribution to the overall economy. 'The industry has been engaging at senior level in the Scottish government regularly on all matters affecting aerospace, defence and security, and have been meeting pretty much weekly, so there is an honest conversation open,' an ADS spokeswoman said. 'Ultimately, if we are to properly protect the UK then the whole of the UK needs to be involved. If we are to properly mobilise to deter Russian aggression and be ready for potential turmoil in the wider world then it needs to be all hands on deck. 'And we do believe that Scotland and the Scottish government takes its own contribution seriously and will be a responsible domestic partner in UK security.' She added: 'The incredible industry we have here is underappreciated — MSPs themselves admitted this at Holyrood recently. 'What's important is that we all have a role, including the first minister, in taking steps towards making the environment in which we all operate one of understanding and support. 'Any political hostility and/or reticence towards the defence industry feels out of step with current challenges, and indeed opportunities. 'And there is now a huge opportunity for Scotland, whether that's building satellites in Glasgow or ships on the Forth, which has the potential to provide a huge boost to the economy.' A Scottish government spokesman said: 'We recognise the importance of the aerospace, defence and shipbuilding sectors for Scotland's economy. Together they provide high value jobs, support across the wider supply chain and make a valuable contribution to local, regional and national economies.' But he added: 'Scottish ministers have been consistently clear on the Scottish government's long-standing policy position that it does not use public money to support the manufacture of munitions.'
