Great Britain will allocate an additional 15 billion pounds ($19.8 billion) to the defense sector.
elchi reports that this was announced by the country’s Finance Minister Rachel Reeves while presenting the defense investment plan.
“The world has changed; national security also means economic security. Today, we are further increasing defense spending. As part of the government’s review of spending priorities, an additional 15 billion pounds will be allocated in funding,” Reeves said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who took the podium after Reeves, noted: “Thus, we are setting a new record by spending approximately 300 billion pounds over the next four years to strengthen our armed forces and national security.” The presentation of the defense plan, which was promised a year ago, was broadcast live by Sky News.
According to The Daily Telegraph, despite the announced investments, Great Britain will still lag behind leading NATO countries in terms of defense spending.
According to Sky News, Starmer stated that he plans to increase the country’s defense spending by reducing investments in road network development and energy projects, but will not resort to bond issuance.
The Prime Minister explained that financing defense “requires taking difficult but necessary measures.” According to the head of government, the funding will be provided through “redistribution of expenses among state institutions” — the budgets of all other ministries will be reduced by 1%. The Prime Minister rejected the idea of issuing bonds to raise the necessary funds for rearmament.
Following the announcement of additional investments in the defense sector, shares of British military industrial companies began to rise on the London Stock Exchange. Specifically, shares of Qinetiq and BAE Systems, which are engaged in the production of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), rose by 7.20% and 1.85%, respectively. Shares of Rolls-Royce, which produces engines for large and high-altitude military drones, gained 2.84%, while securities of Babcock International and Chemring rose by 3.30% and 5.95%, respectively.
Məryəm