Day: June 29, 2022

PM to tell NATO: Allies must dig deep to prepare for a more dangerous decade ahead

Allies will discuss future of NATO at Madrid Summit, as the Alliance seeks to agree a plan for a new decade of growing threats and great power competition.

  • Allies will discuss future of NATO at Madrid Summit, as the Alliance seeks to agree a plan for a new decade of growing threats and great power competition
  • UK defence spending projected to reach 2.3% of GDP this year due to UK defence industry investment and £1.3bn of extraordinary support for Ukraine
  • PM will announce new UK military commitments to NATO, protecting people throughout the alliance in the face of the evolving threat from Russia
  • Defence budget currently sustains 390,000 industry jobs across the UK, with the UK invested more in defence than any other European country

The PM will urge NATO allies to invest more to modernise defence and restore deterrence in Europe, warning that the decade ahead is likely to be more dangerous and competitive than the last, at the Summit of NATO leaders beginning in Madrid today (Wednesday).

The UK has played a key role in shaping the new NATO Strategic Concept which will be agreed at the Summit. The strategy highlights the evolving and growing threats which the Alliance faces and sets out how NATO can meet them and keep our people safe.

This builds on the work of the UK’s Integrated Review, published last year, which underscored the need to modernise our Armed Forces and develop UK and NATO defence and security capabilities across land, sea, air and cyberspace and invest in new technologies.

On the back of that review the Prime Minister announced the biggest increase to UK defence spending since the Cold War – an investment which has kickstarted a wholesale transformation programme for our military to meet new threats.

Speaking at the Madrid Summit, the PM will argue that NATO allies will need to commit the resources need to deliver on the new Strategic Concept as the security environment is more dangerous since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Since 2006 the UK, along with other NATO members, has committed to spend 2% of GDP on defence in order to protect our people and work to ensure peace and prosperity.

The UK has met the 2% NATO target every year since its inception and remains the leading defence spender in Europe. At the Wales NATO summit of 2014, allies agreed to work toward the 2% target by 2024.

The PM has welcomed the fact that many allies are now stepping up with increased commitments, including support for Ukraine. But the PM has warned that there is more to be done in the decade ahead as NATO begins work on setting new targets for the future.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe, and permanently reconfigured the geopolitical contours of our continent. Both the UK and NATO must adapt to meet new and increased threats to our shared security. That means ensuring that there is long-term investment but also being ready to surge defence spending to adapt to crises and urgent needs.

In addition to long-term investment, since the start of the war the UK has so far provided £1.3bn in extraordinary military support to Ukraine for its self-defence, and deployed more troops to NATO’s eastern flank and increased our contributions to NATO’s air policing and standing naval groups.

Today at NATO the Prime Minister will announce a number of new UK commitments to strengthen the Alliance, including expanding our national headquarters in Estonia to ensure we could provide rapid reinforcements with our high readiness forces if needed, and further increasing the lethality of our forces already based in Estonia through the deployment of capabilities such as artillery, air defence and helicopters.

The PM will also commit to reinforce NATO’s New Force Model through the UK’s world-leading capabilities in land, air and sea – including almost all our maritime forces, extra Fighter and Bomber Air Squadrons and increasing the number of Land Brigade-sized units.

This will help NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe plan for any eventuality, knowing that he has the weight of UK defence capability behind him.

These investments, plus the unprecedented surge of support to Ukraine, are projected to increase the percentage of GDP the UK spends on defence this year to around 2.3% – making the UK again the leading European defence spender this year.

As well as keeping us safe, the UK’s defence budget creates and sustains 390,000 UK jobs, including through nearly £20 billion of investment into UK industries every year. 1 in every 130 UK jobs are created by our defence budget. Most of these are high-paying, skilled jobs with an average salary of £45,000.

This includes:

  • 29,800 jobs across the UK, including 13,500 in the Northwest of England, created by the Dreadnought submarine programme
  • 24,000 jobs supported by our shipbuilding industry
  • 300 jobs in Rosyth and elsewhere created by a £30m contract to maintain our two aircraft carriers
  • More than 100 jobs created in Stevenage, Cowes, Bristol and Bolton by a £300m project to make the UK the first European nation to operate a Maritime Ballistic Missile Defence detect and destroy capability

Our ‘proud record’ on defence has also built a thriving UK defence export industry, which exports an average of £3.75bn worth of equipment around the world – helping to keep our allies safe.

Addressing NATO today, the Prime Minister is expected to say: “The NATO Alliance keeps our people safe every day. But over the next ten years the threats around us are only going to grow. We need allies – all allies – to dig deep to restore deterrence and ensure defence in the decade ahead. The 2% was always meant to be a floor, not a ceiling and allies must continue to step up in this time of crisis.

“I remain incredibly proud of the immense contribution Defence makes to the UK and the world. Defence of the realm is the first order of any Government. But more than that, defence lies at the beating heart of the United Kingdom.

“Almost every family knows someone who has served our country or worked in our thriving defence industry. Moments of national joy are observed from the skies by our incredible Red Arrows, moments of national mourning are flanked by our men and women in uniform.

“And as we think about crafting a future in which the people of the UK are safe and prosperous, we must again turn to defence. To neglect the needs of our Armed Forces is to neglect our country.”

To fully address the threats of the future the UK is investing in long-term strategic projects like AUKUS and Future Combat Air System. These involve cutting-edge technologies which the UK defence industry will be tasked with developing for years to come – bolstering alliances and creating and sustaining jobs across the UK.

In 2014, at NATO’s Wales Summit, allies committed to the Wales Defence Investment Pledge to invest 2% of GDP in defence by 2024. Between 2014 and 2022 European allies and Canada are expected to spend a total of $350 billion extra in real terms on defence. The UK has led the way, from securing the Wales Pledge to investing $34,741 million more in defence since 2014.

But, as the Government recognised in the Integrated Review, the costs of staying safe and secure are rising. At the NATO Summit today, the Prime Minister will urge allies to start discussions on a new target for defence investment from 2024.

In recent weeks a number of NATO members have agreed to increase their defence spending in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They include Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Romania and Poland.  Poland will spend 3% of its GDP on defence from next year.

First Minister sets out next steps in independence referendum

The next steps on securing a referendum on independence were outlined by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during a statement to Parliament yesterday.

She said: “Independence is about equipping ourselves to navigate the future, guided by our own values, aspirations and interests.

“Now is the time – at this critical moment in history – to debate and decide the future of our country. Now is the time to get Scotland on the right path – the path chosen by those who live here. Now is the time for independence.

“This parliament has a clear, democratic mandate to offer Scotland that choice. The UK government, regrettably however, is refusing to respect Scottish democracy.

“The UK and Scottish Governments should be sitting down together, responsibly agreeing a process, including a section 30 order, that allows the Scottish people to decide. That would be the democratic way to proceed.

“The issue of independence cannot be suppressed. It must be resolved democratically. And that must be through a process that is above reproach and commands confidence. 

“That is why I am setting out today the actions the Scottish Government and the Lord Advocate will take, in the absence of a section 30 order, to secure Scotland’s right to choose.

“I can announce, first of all, that the Scottish Government is today publishing the ‘Scottish Independence Referendum Bill’.

“In common with the 2014 referendum – indeed, in common with the Brexit referendum and the referendum to establish this Parliament – the independence referendum proposed in the Bill will be consultative, not self-executing.

“The Bill states that the question on the ballot paper should be – just as it was in 2014 – ‘should Scotland be an independent country’.

“There has been much commentary in recent days to the effect that a consultative referendum would not have the same status as the vote in 2014.

“That is simply wrong, factually and legally.

“The status of the referendum proposed in this Bill is exactly the same as the referendums of 1997, 2014 and 2016.

“The Bill includes the proposed date on which the referendum should be held.

“I can announce that the Scottish Government is proposing that the independence referendum be held on 19 October 2023.

“We must seek now to accelerate to the point when we have legal clarity; legal fact. And crucially, in doing so establish and safeguard the ability of this Parliament to deliver a referendum on the date proposed.

“The Lord Advocate has agreed to make a reference of the provisions in the Bill to the Supreme Court.

“I can confirm that the reference will be filed with the Supreme Court this afternoon.

“Obviously, it is this government’s hope that the question in this Bill, proposing a referendum that is consultative, not self-executing, and which would seek to ascertain the views of the Scottish people for or against independence, will be deemed to be within the legislative competence of this Parliament.

“If that outcome is secured, there will be no doubt whatsoever that the referendum is lawful. And I can confirm that the government will then immediately introduce the Bill and ask Parliament to pass the it on a timescale that allows the referendum to proceed on 19 October 2023.

“It is, of course, possible that the Supreme Court will decide that the Scottish Parliament does not have power to legislate for even a consultative referendum. Obviously, that would not be the clarity we hope for.

“But if that is what the law establishing this Parliament really means, it is better to have that clarity sooner rather than later.

“Because what it will clarify is this: any notion of the UK as a voluntary union of nations is a fiction. Any suggestion that the UK is a partnership of equals is false.

“There would be few stronger or more powerful arguments for independence than that.

“And it would not be the end of the matter. Far from it. Democracy demands that people must have their say.

“I want the process set in train today to lead to a lawful, constitutional referendum and for that to take place on 19 October 2023.

“But if the law says that is not possible, the General Election will be a ‘de facto’ referendum.

“Either way, the people of Scotland will have their say.”

“To believe in Scottish independence is to believe in a better future. It involves an unashamedly optimistic view of the world. The belief that things can be better than they are now.

“The people of Scotland have told us that they want the right to decide.

“Today we have set out the path to deliver it.”

THERE HAS BEEN A PREDICTABLE RESPONSE FROM OPPOSITION PARTIES:

The First Minister[s statement to Parliament.

A letter to the Prime Minister has been sent to inform him of the content of the statement and make clear that the Scottish Government is ready and willing to negotiate the terms of a section 30 order.