- Unite warns UK defence spending in the delayed DIP must go to UK firms
- PAC says the lack of a long-term plan is undermining modernisation and value for money
- Delays risk weakening industry as nuclear spending takes a larger share of the budget
An influential workers’ union Unite has warned the UK Government that any uptick in defence spending revealed in the long-overdue Defence Investment Plan (DIP) should be directed to UK-based defence firms.
Responding to a report published by the UK Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 7 June, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the failure to deliver the DIP was a “threat to British jobs” and to the country’s national security.
The PAC report had highlighted a number of failings by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) amid the continued delay to the DIP publication.
“The continuing lack of a deliverable long-term Defence Investment Plan is seriously undermining the Department’s efforts to modernise the Armed Forces and achieve value for money for the taxpayer,” stated the PAC report.
It is thought likely that the DIP will be published in the coming days or weeks at most, with government officials providing a new deadline for the Nato Summit in Ankara on 7 July.
However, two other dates may be used as a background to publish the DIP, with Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichidue to visit the UK in mid-June where defence will be a central topic of conversation, given Tokyo’s participation in the trilateral GCAP next-generation fighter programme.
In addition, a key by-election in the north of England in mid-June, where Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham is attempting to become an MP and usurp sitting Prime Minister Keir Starmer, could offer another timeframe for a DIP publication, with the region a key defence aerospace employer at the BAE Systems sites in Samlesbury and Warton.
“When the DIP is published, no ifs or buts that money must be spent in the UK, that is what the prime minister promised and what we expect. Any backsliding would be a betrayal,” warned Graham on 8 June.
The union Unite carries significant influence in the Labour Party, which previously sought to position itself as a champion of the UK working classes. However, Unite has previously raised concern over decision such as the 2025 acquisition of US-origin F-35A fighter, rather than UK-built Eurofighter Typhoons.
In its 8 June statement, Unite urged the UK Government to ensure that contracts including a “new tranche of Typhoon fast jets, the Skynet satellite, and the A400M transport plane” were signed off and rolling through UK production lines “as soon as possible”.
Such hopes appear unrealistic at best, given there is no requirement for additional Typhoon fighters, nor A400M transporters, with the intended procurement for 22 aircraft completed for the latter programme.
The Royal Air Force now operates a fleet of 107 Typhoons in service, consisting of 67 Tranche 2 and 40 Tranche 3 airframes.
Rather, the UK Government is looking to the export market to secure Eurofighter Typhoon sales, as seen with Türkiye.
Nuclear to swallow up 25% of defence
The PAC report revealed that the UK Government currently spends around 85% of defence funds inside the UK, although it is not clear to what extent this includes UK subsidiaries of foreign companies, which can see much of the employment benefit take place overseas.
Ongoing delays to the DIP risked “weakening the UK’s defence industrial base”, the PAC report stated.
The DIP delays have become a running joke among defence companies, particularly those in the SME sectors, as wrangling between the MoD and the Treasury over how to fill a £28bn ($37.3bn) black hole in the department’s finances.
Another factor the PAC report highlighted as being of concern was the projected share that the UK’s Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) would take of the total defence spending, now expected to reach 25% in the coming years.
A total of nine DNE programmes have whole-life costs of more than £10bn, with the MoD claiming that the cost of the Dreadnought ballistic missile submarines, which is due to enter service in the early 2030s, currently remains within its £41bn budget – including a £10bn contingency.
On 9 June, the UK House of Lords will hear evidence from key UK defence industry figures on the impact on the sector resulting from ongoing delays to the DIP.
