THE UK Government has been blasted over new plans to prioritise UK-based defence firms for investment.
On Monday, Defence Secretary John Healey launched the Government’s Defence Industrial Strategy, with a view towards growing the UK’s defence sector.
Speaking at a London Defence Conference event with investors in London, Healey set an ambition to increase defence sector jobs in “every nation and region of the UK”.
He also claimed that a strong defence industry could help provide “the foundation for a decade of national renewal” as global threats increase and also appointed a fully-fledged national armaments director.
The new government position aims to build up the UK defence industry and to crack down on waste.
But Scottish Green’s co-leader Patrick Harvie (below) hit out at the strategy, saying that the UK’s arms industry is “nothing to be proud of”.
“It has done terrible damage around the world and is the last thing we should be trying to build our economy on the back of,” he told The National.
“Its entire business model is based on arming, supporting and enabling war, repression and human rights abuses.”
Harvie added: "UK-made weapons have boosted and empowered despots and dictatorships around the world and have played roles in the devastating Saudi-led bombing of Yemen and Israel's genocide against Gaza.
"With so many UK arms sales going to human rights abusers, it is staggering to see a Labour Government planning to sell even more and to export even more violence around the world.”
He went on to say that engineers working for arms firm are “among the most skilled” and could be put to “Better use with investment and support” for the renewables sector and industries that “make the world a greener place rather than ones that thrive on conflict”.
Sam Perlo-Freeman, a researcher for the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said the new strategy suggests the already “far-too-cosy relationship” between government and the arms industry is “likely to get even closer”.
“The top UK arms companies already enjoy unparalleled levels of access to the top levels of government, along with huge non-competitive contracts that almost guarantee a comfortable stream of profits,” he told The National.
“This is despite repeated failures in delivery, with multi-billion programmes regularly going over budget and behind schedule. Meanwhile, arms export decisions consistently favour the interests of industry over human lives.”
Perlo-Freeman added: “New, much broader, thinking about security is desperately needed, focusing on the overriding challenge of the climate emergency, while looking carefully at what the UK really needs for its armed forces, rather than prestige projects that mostly serve the interests of the arms industry.
“This will not come from a closed conversation between government and the arms industry that will only serve existing, powerful, vested interests.”
As part of the announcement, defence AI company Helsing said it would now mass produce its HX-2 drone as part of its £350 million investment into the UK over five years.
The drone uses AI (artificial intelligence) to identify targets and strikes are then confirmed by a human operator.
BAE Systems and Babcock have also announced plans to recruit thousands more people in the coming year, including through graduate and apprenticeship opportunities.
The Defence Secretary did not confirm when asked whether plans to set out the timeline for the UK to reach defence spending of 2.5% had been pushed back until June or if defence chiefs had asked him to get to the target by 2027.
The Government has committed to upping defence spending to 2.5% but has not said when it plans to reach that goal by.
