UK Defence Secretary John Healey says plans for defence spending of some £6 billion over the next five years will send a “message to Moscow” about Britain’s “readiness to fight if required”.
Plans include spending £1.5bn on at least six new defence factories and creating 1,800 jobs across the UK. Healey has indicated that the government would support procuring up to 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons.
He told the BBC that the defence review, which sets out “big new investments in our national security”, concludes that the UK faces a “new era of threat” and warns of the “immediate and pressing” danger posed by Russia and other countries, including China.
The BBC reports that the Conservatives said they welcomed investment in new munitions, and that shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge had called for “greater ambition for the pace and scale of rearmament our armed forces require”.
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