PM to invest in new nuclear submarines and warheads

Plan set out in defence review will send message to Moscow’

- KATE DEVLIN

Britain is set to build up to 12 new nuclear-powered attack submarines in response to rapidly increasing global threats, Sir Keir Starmer will announce as he unveils his long-awaited defence review. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) will also spend £15bn on new warheads for the UK’s nuclear deterrent, the prime minister will reveal for the first time, as part of plans to make the country ready for war.

Ministers must act “decisively to face down Russian aggression” and ensure Britain is “secure at home and strong abroad”, the defence secretary John Healey warned. Sir Keir has called the 130-page review, which is set to be published today, a “radical blueprint”, and pledged it will lead to a “wave of investments” in shipbuilding, drone technology and cyberdefence.

Announcing the plans – which he will claim will create a “defence dividend” that supports tens of thousands of highly skilled jobs – Sir Keir is expected to say they will “ensure the UK rises to the challenge and our armed forces have the equipment they need that keeps us safe ... while driving greater opportunity”.

Among the report’s 62 recommendations, all of which are expected to be accepted by the government, are:

• A “landmark” shift to war readiness to deter growing threats

• Up to six new munitions factories that can be scaled up in response to a crisis

• A new stockpile of 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons

• A new cyber command to counter a “continual and intensifying” level of cyber warfare

• £1.5bn for military housing amid claims that years of neglect have led to troops quitting