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Daily Mail
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Nuke-laden jets, new submarines, £1bn for bio labs and the 'Blitz spirit': How Britain is readying itself as chilling report warns country should 'actively prepare' for war on British soil
The UK is buying a fleet of nuke-laden jets, building new attack submarines, establishing a network of bio labs, and reviving the 'Blitz spirit' amid growing threats. As Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer attends a NATO summit in The Hague, it was confirmed Britain is set to buy 12 F35-A fighter jets. The £80million jets, a variant of the F35-Bs the UK already uses, can carry conventional weapons but can also be equipped with nuclear bombs. They are expected to carry American B-61 nuclear gravity bombs, capable of killing thousands. It follows the recent announcement that the UK will build up to 12 new attack submarines. The new conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines will replace the seven-strong Astute class from the late 2030s onwards. The bolstering of Britain's military kit comes as a chilling new report outlined the growing threats faced by the UK. The national security strategy, published yesterday, warned of a direct attack on British soil. 'For the first time in many years, we have to actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario,' it said. In his foreword to the report, Sir Keir set out an 'historic commitment' to spending 5 per cent of Britain's GDP on national security by 2035. This is as has been agreed by NATO leaders at this week's summit. The national security strategy also set out how £1billion is being invested in a new network of 'national biosecurity centres'. These willl bolster the UK's defences against biological incidents, accidents and attacks. The report included a call for Brits to revive the 'Blitz spirit' as it warned 'the years ahead will test the UK' in the face of 'radical uncertainty' across the world. 'We do not need to look too far into our history for an example of a whole-of-society effort, motivated by a collective will to keep each other safe,' it added. 'We can mobilise that spirit again and use it both for our national security and the rebuilding of our country.' Ministers said the UK now finds itself in 'an era in which we face confrontation with those who are threatening our security'. The report highlighted Russian cyber attacks and sabotage against the UK, Iranian hostile activity on British soil, and other adversaries 'laying the foundations for future conflict'. This includes them 'positioning themselves to move quickly to cause major disruption to our energy and or supply chains,' the strategy said. The strategy aims to protect the UK at home and abroad, and also invest more in artificial intelligence (AI) and defence. Sir Keir said the UK is 'facing daily challenges on the home front' with Britain targeted by 'very, very frequent and very, very serious' cyberattacks. The PM, speaking to Sky News at a NATO summit in The Hague on Tuesday, added: 'We have to guard properly against those threats, and we will do so.' While the national security strategy outlined the threat from Russia, Iran and North Korea, it also highlighted the 'challenge' of China as a global actor. Sir Keir said 'every element of society' must be mobilised towards a 'collective national effort' to keep the UK safe. In a foreword to the national security strategy, the PM said: 'Russian aggression menaces our continent. 'Strategic competition is intensifying. Extremist ideologies are on the rise. 'Technology is transforming the nature of both war and domestic security. Hostile state activity takes place on British soil. 'It is an era of radical uncertainty and we must navigate it with agility, speed and a clear-eyed sense of the national interest. 'That is what keeping the British people safe demands.' Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden told MPs on Tuesday the whole country must now be 'clear-eyed and hard-edged' about the threats it faces. In a statement to the House of Commons, he said the strategy would aim to deliver 'three crucial things'. The first of these is to 'protect security at home', by bolstering the borders and making the UK 'more resilient to future threats'. Ministers are stepping up calls for the whole of society to become more resilient and plan to carry out a cross-government exercise of how to deal with crises – such as a future pandemic – later this year. The UK must also work to 'promote strength abroad' with allies in order to defend their 'collective security', Mr McFadden said. The third step Mr McFadden set out was for the UK to increase its 'sovereign and asymmetric capabilities', including by rebuilding its defence industries and building 'advantages in new frontier technologies' like AI. China is a 'sophisticated and persistent threat' but freezing the UK's relations with Beijing is 'not an option', Foreign Secretary David Lammy told MPs later. In his own statement to the Commons on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Lammy outlined the findings of the Government's examination of the UK-China relationship. The 'China audit' recommended increasing Britain's 'resilience and readiness' towards the Asian superpower and the Government's ability to engage with Beijing. As part of the national security strategy, a summary of the audit set out how 'China's espionage, interference in our democracy and the undermining of our economic security have increased in recent years'. But it also noted how ministers are seeking a 'trade and investment relationship' with China to boost the UK economy. Mr Lammy told MPs that in the past decade China has delivered a third of global economic growth, becoming the world's second largest economy. Together with Hong Kong, it is the UK's third largest trading partner, the Foreign Secretary added. 'Not engaging with China is therefore no choice at all,' he said. 'China's power is an inescapable fact.' Mr Lammy said the audit painted a 'complex picture' but 'the UK's approach to China will be founded on progressive realism, taking the world as it is, not as we wish it to be'. The Foreign Secretary faced claims that the Government was going 'cap in hand' to China to bail out the British economy. Tory shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said: 'It has taken the Government a year to produce this audit, which seemingly fails to set out any kind of serious strategic framework. 'I think it's fair to say we know why: because the Government – and in fact the Foreign Secretary has touched on this – has gone cap in hand to China to bail out its terrible handling of the British economy. 'It is setting up its closer economic ties with China while knowing very well that British businesses here are struggling, not just when it comes to competing against China, but actually struggling to absorb the weight of Labour's own regulatory costs in this country.' Mr Lammy was also forced to assure MPs that there are 'no grubby deals' with China on any issue, including the proposed 'super-embassy' in London. Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told the Foreign Secretary: 'I'll give him a quick audit now of exactly what should have been. 'China threatens Taiwan, has invaded the South China Sea, it's having massive disputes with the Philippines, genocide, slave labour, organ harvesting, transnational repression, taxes Hong Kong dissidents here, Hong Kong dissidents under threat constantly, cyber-attacks on the UK, supports Myanmar in their oppressive military regime, supports Russian's invasion of Ukraine, it also supports North Korea and Iran and has trashed the Sino-British treaty on Hong Kong, it has arrested Jimmy Lai, it has sanctions on UK MPs and it thieves all the IPs on private companies. 'What a record to balance, what? Against some potential trade?' He added: 'In the course of this embassy decision, it was said quite clearly in the media that China would not apply again after the refusal of Tower Hamlets (Council), unless they received assurances from the UK Government. 'Can he now tell me that they have not received any assurances, or have they received private assurances that they will get what they want and get this embassy?' Mr Lammy responded: 'Let me just express respect for (Sir Iain's) experience in relation to the China threat and also that he is subject to sanctions that I have consistently raised with China, noting that recently it lifted sanctions against members of the European Parliament and I pressed them recently to do the same. 'Let me assure him that there are no grubby deals on any issues and certainly not in relation to the embassy – and I reject any suggestion of anything other.'
Bloomberg
02-06-2025
- General
- Bloomberg
Allegra Stratton: Starmer's Need For Speed
If you've never been to the shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, just south of the Lake District, then it's worth a trip. I have been a fair bit both as a day tripper and also as a TV reporter, when I always found the local 'Spoons stuffed with submariners having a pint before heading off on what they call their 'Silent Service' through the planet's seas. But the ultimate spectacle is to walk over the bridge in Barrow and find yourself staring right at one of Britain's nuclear subs: half submerged like a resting black electric eel. The one in the dock in March, when the prime minister became the first Labour leader to visit in 30 years, was HMS Agamemnon, or 'awesome Aggie' — part of the new Astute-class of subs that will protect the UK's nuclear deterrent and the rest out at sea. When I've visited, the skills and pride of the technicians are clear to see, as they thrum around the boats.
The Independent
02-06-2025
- General
- The Independent
I'm a former submariner – here's what you need to know about Britain's new nuclear fleet
During the Cold War and for a short time following the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the United Kingdom had a fleet of submarines: the Strategic Deterrent, the Hunter Killer Fleet boats and the Diesel Submarine Flotillas. We could justly say that we could act – independently and with our allies – across the world and in any theatre of war. Yet post Cold War, political decisions were made on the assumption that we no longer needed such capable forces; the peace had been won. We lost all the diesel submarines with one sweep of the political pen; we reduced the number of SSNs from a combine force of 13 Swiftsure and Trafalgar Class, replacing them with highly effective but limited numbers of the Astute Class, seven in total; we whittled down the shore support that would keep the boats we had at sea for longer. We stopped investing in the shore facilities that would support our submarines and provide a decent home for our submariners. Numbers matter – it is a stark and irrefutable fact. From early in the last decade, it has become self evident that there is a resurgent Russia. The military has known this for a considerable amount of time and submariners never believed the Cold War had stopped. Unfortunately, most politicians have felt it unpalatable to accept the truth of the in-house briefings and the obvious facts. In reality, we have needed to make significant steps towards re-arming and increasing our fleet capability for a decade or more. This week's announcement, therefore, that there is intent to procure 12 replacement SSNs for the Astute class is a very welcome political acknowledgement of a military reality – and may, in time, bring us back somewhere towards where we need to be to fulfil our standing obligations nationally, internationally and reactively. Increases in capability are important – they keep you at the cutting edge of war fighting and able to stand up in the most challenging of arenas – but so are raw numbers. You can have the most capable ship in the world, but if you only have one, it is vulnerable, either to mechanical failure or to enemy action. Only with numbers do you have some sort of tactical resilience and the ability to show that you can project maritime power and influence beyond your own borders. Over the past few years, the Royal Navy has suffered from a well-publicised lack of available Astute Class. While the reasons for this are complicated, a large part of it is the sparing strategy adopted by the MoD. Without a decent cache of spares, a routine mechanical issue becomes an operational showstopper. A flotilla of seven SSNs provides some (but arguably nowhere near enough) strategic resilience to respond to international maritime demands. Once you remove a submarine within a long maintenance period, two within short maintenance periods, two on operational stand down periods and one with a short term defect, you very quickly run out altogether. The permanent operational demands of having a submarine ready to protect home waters – plus one ready to deploy to protect longer distance interests and one potentially supporting carrier group operations or Nato exercises – balanced against the above availability, means there is no surge capacity or room for contingent operations. What this new announcement must not become is a short-term political statement that fails to materialise through budgetary constraints. To give our fleet the tools to do the job to defend our nation, we must have at least 12 Hunter Killer submarines. A further discussion could then be had about strengthening our Strategic Deterrent Flotilla and the rest of the maritime, land and air defence offering. The sledgehammer of Putin's military stance has finally cracked the UK's political nut. Let us hope that we turn this intent into a reality, sign the contracts and start the process that will re-grow our defensive capability into something that will properly deter and protect our nation from an increasingly risky maritime environment.
The Sun
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
UK to build attack subs as part of major defence review
GLASGOW: Britain announced it will build 12 new attack submarines as it launched a major defence review Monday to move the country to 'war-fighting readiness' in the face of 'Russian aggression' and the changing nature of conflict. Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that 'the threat we now face is more serious, more immediate and more unpredictable than at any time since the Cold War,' as he launched the review in Glasgow. 'We face war in Europe, new nuclear risks, daily cyber-attacks, growing Russian aggression in our waters, menacing our skies,' he added. The Strategic Defence Review, which assesses threats facing the UK and makes recommendations, said that Britain is entering 'a new era of threat'. As a result, Starmer said his government aimed to deliver three 'fundamental changes'. 'First, we are moving to war-fighting readiness as the central purpose of our armed forces,' he said. 'Every part of society, every citizen of this country, has a role to play, because we have to recognise that things have changed in the world of today. The front-line, if you like, is here,' he added. Secondly, the prime minister insisted that UK defence policy will 'always be NATO first', and finally that the UK 'will innovate and accelerate innovation at a wartime pace so we can meet the threats of today and of tomorrow.' 'Blueprint for strength' The UK has been racing to rearm in the face of the threat from Russia and fears that US President Donald Trump will no longer help protect Europe. Starmer said it would serve as 'a blueprint for strength and security for decades to come', taking into account the increasing use of drones and artificial intelligence on the battlefield. His government pledged in February to lift defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027 in the 'largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War'. And despite budget constraints, it aims for spending to rise to three percent in the next parliamentary term, due in 2029. The Labour government has said it will cut UK overseas aid to help fund the spending. Based on the recommendations of the review, which was led by former NATO secretary general George Robertson, the government said Sunday that it would boost stockpiles and weapons production capacity, which could be scaled up if needed. This includes £1.5 billion ($2 billion) for building 'at least six munitions and energetics factories', procuring 7,000 domestically built long-range weapons, and spending £6 billion on munitions over the current parliamentary term. The government also said late Sunday that it would build up to 12 new attack submarines as part of its AUKUS military alliance with Australia and the United States. Currently the UK is set to operate seven nuclear-powered Astute Class attack submarines, which will be replaced by the 12 AUKUS submarines from the late 2030s. The defence ministry also said it would invest £15 billion in its nuclear warhead programme and last week pledged £1 billion for the creation of a 'cyber command' to help on the battlefield. China 'challenge' The last such defence review was commissioned in 2021 by the previous Conservative government, and was revised in 2023 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While launching the new review, Robertson said it would tackle threats from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, calling them a 'deadly quartet'. But in an op-ed article for The Sun newspaper, Starmer did not mention China, while warning that 'The Kremlin is working hand in hand with its cronies in Iran and North Korea.' The softer rhetoric on China is in line with the Labour government's efforts to thaw relations with Beijing, which reached new lows under former prime minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative government. The review describes Russia as an 'immediate and pressing' threat, but calls China a 'sophisticated and persistent challenge', according to The Guardian. At a time when Washington is demanding that its NATO allies bolster their own defences, Britain is considering strengthening its deterrent by buying nuclear-missile capable aircraft from the United States, The Sunday Times reported.
Telegraph
02-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Starmer's submarine push sounds impressive, but our nuclear deterrent remains in dire peril
Today, Sir Keir Starmer will pledge that the UK will raise the rate at which it builds submarines to one every 18 months. That sounds splendid, but like many grand government announcements it amounts to little more than a repackaging of what is already happening. At the moment, Britain is building the Astute class attack submarines. The contract for these was signed in 1997, almost three decades ago. The sixth boat is in the water but not yet in service and the seventh, now to be known as HMS Achilles after the King reportedly vetoed the name Agincourt, may be commissioned next year. Considered on that basis, these submarines will have taken an average of around four years each to acquire. So speeding up production to two every three years sounds very impressive. But that is to ignore the awful, painful gestation of the Astutes. Before starting work on them, Britain had not designed a new class of submarines for 20 years, and we had forgotten how to do it. After terrible, protracted struggles, cost overruns and delays, we basically had to get the Americans to show us how. A lot of design work was done in Connecticut, and at one stage an American employee of General Dynamics had to be brought in as Astute project director at our submarine yard in Barrow. The name ship of the class, HMS Astute, finally went into full Royal Navy service in 2014. Succeeding A-boats have arrived at shorter and shorter intervals since then: HMS Achilles may be, in fact, no more than 18 months behind HMS Agamemnon. The Astute class build problems were not the only issues we've had with our nuclear submarines. In 2010 Lord Cameron, then prime minister, delayed the replacement of our nuclear deterrent Vanguard class submarines to appease his peacenik Lib Dem coalition partners. The old V-boats have now been in service for more than thirty years, and they're starting to really show their age. They need replacing as a matter of urgency: it's now proving so difficult to get the next boat ready once one has gone out on patrol that our deterrent submariners are now routinely having to stay out for more than six months at a time. This can't go on for much longer. So right now we're already building submarines at a rate of one every eighteen months. It has long been not only the plan to ramp up submarine production to at least this level, but a critical national necessity. We must get the final Astute boats built and out of the way so that we can replace the creaking deterrent V-boats. So well done for stating all this clearly, Sir Keir. But let's not act as if this is new and all is well.
