Today, the Defence Secretary will announce that up to six new state-of-the art warships will be built in the UK, as we stick to the plan to boost Britain’s defences.
- We are facing an increasingly dangerous world, with Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and instability in the Middle East having far-reaching global consequences. That is why we are announcing that up to six new state-of-the art warships will be built in the UK, helping to strengthen Royal Marines special operations, and bringing the total number of UK-built ships and submarines in the pipeline to 28.
- We are sticking to the plan to boost the UK’s defence through our commitment to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by the end of the decade and deliver a more secure future for all, both for people and families today and for generations to come. Labour have refused to commit to spending 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030, because they don’t have a plan for our security and would take us back to square one.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News there are 28 new ships and submarines in the design or construction stage at the moment for the UK's armed forces. He said 22 ships are "already in the system". The defence secretary said that the government is committing to three of the new "versatile" ships for the Marines, "and then possibly another three as well". He later said the final three are "in the design phase".
He also announced two of the ships being built - type 26 and 31 frigates - will be equipped with land-attack missiles so they will be capable of attacking targets on shore. Mr Shapps said this is a "very, very large shipbuilding programme, a lot of warships, the golden era of shipbuilding here". He added: "It's all possible because just last month we agreed as a government to spend 2.5% of our GDP on our defence sector because we think it's very, very important to make sure that those who would seek to do us harm are put off, that they are dissuaded because they can see that we're serious about our defence."
Mr Shapps said the Tory pledge is different to Labour's because the Conservatives have "set out a timeline". "We've also said how we would go about largely funding this, and that's by reducing the size of the civil service, which is much bigger than it was before COVID," he said "We want to get it back down to the size it was before and use that money to spend on defence".
"I have to say, as defence secretary, with everything that I know in this role, that I think that the Labour position presents a danger to this country because it will send a signal to our adversaries that we're not serious about our defence if we won't set out that timetable."