Almost a year ago, the UK government announced that it would be spending more money on defence. The Prime Minister promised that “we will translate defence spending into British growth, British jobs, British skills, British innovation”.

Unite represents thousands of workers in defence and we have been in numerous conversations with government over many months, producing high level reports, outlining the need to put those words into action. For jobs and our national security.

Yet once again we are being advised of delay. The Defence Investment Plan (DIP) was meant to be published last summer alongside the Strategic Defence Review. Last autumn this slipped to “before the end of 2025” and now it seems like the prime minister is ready to hold it back until March or even later. Why?

This is starting to feel like Alice Through the Looking Glass, where it is always jam tomorrow.

Allowing speculation about the government buying US made defence equipment instead of high-quality British kit is fuelling uncertainty. This is about jobs of course, but it is also a matter of national security. The latest set of threats from president Trump makes buying British and investing in British defence even more imperative.

And we need these investments in British manufacturing now. The UK currently has the lowest investment rates in the G7. The government’s constant dithering is not only putting thousands of jobs at risk but also endangering the specialist skills that the UK needs to make fighter jets, military helicopters, drones and satellites in the future.

Unite is calling on the Government to stop these acts of self-harm, to urgently publish the DIP and to ensure that it includes:

1. The replacement of old RAF fighter jets with new Typhoons, fitted with Rolls Royce engines, equipped with British-built weapons from MBDA and assembled at BAE’s sites in Lancashire.

2.  The awarding of the new medium lift helicopter contract to Leonardo, to be manufactured at their plant in Yeovil, Somerset.

3. Provisions for the MoDs Military Satellite Communications System (Skynet) to continue being built in Portsmouth and Stevenage, as it has for the last 20 years.

Sharon Graham Unite general secretary said: “The government's inertia on this issue is an act of self-harm. With employers planning in the dark and threatening job losses as a result, the government needs to stop the dither and delay.

“Failing to back British defence manufacturing would be a devastating own goal, destroying jobs and skills.

“When the announcement was made for higher defence spending, it came with guarantees around jobs, skills and innovation. We now need to move beyond the warm words and deliver.'

Meanwhile, senior Unite defence reps at Leonardo and other key defence sites, have written directly to prime minister Keir Starmer calling for him to act swiftly and decisively in order to ensure that jobs and skills are not lost.

ENDS

Notes to editors

For media enquiries ONLY please contact Unite senior communications advisor Barckley Sumner on 07802 329235.

Email: barckley.sumner@unitetheunion.org

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Unite is the UK and Ireland’s leading union fighting to protect and advance jobs, pay and conditions for members working across all sectors of the economy. The general secretary is Sharon Graham.