Rumours of the dollar’s demise have been greatly exaggerated June 19, 2025 We are in the thick of global summitry, rolling from the G7 in Canada towards the NATO meeting in The Hague next week. President Trump is conducting foreign policy via social media, the prime ministers of the UK and Canada are having a pint in the pub and the French President is making stopovers in [...]
‘You’ll have to wait and see’: Reeves’ deputy can’t rule out autumn tax rises June 15, 2025 Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones refused to rule out further tax hikes in the autumn budget on Sunday. Asked on GB News whether he would rule out tax rises later this year, Jones said “that will be subject to the OBR forecasts… it’s right that we take these types of decision in an orderly way.” [...]
Nato to pressure UK to spend 3.5 per cent on defence June 3, 2025 The UK will have to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035 as part of a new Nato demand, according to reports, stretching government expenditure far beyond the current 2.5 per cent commitment made by Keir Starmer. The Labour government has agreed to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent from 2027, [...]
Starmer refuses to commit 3 per cent defence spending despite ‘battle-ready’ claim June 2, 2025 Keir Starmer has been criticised for failing to commit to increasing defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP. The Prime Minister vowed to put in place the “largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War,” with a 2.5 per cent share of GDP going to defence. However, the PM maintained that hitting [...]
Qinetiq shares soar after £1.5bn extension to Ministry of Defence deal May 22, 2025 Qinetiq, the FTSE 250 defence contractor, has announced a £1.5bn extension to its partnership deal with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). The Farnborough-based firm said on Thursday it will extend its Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA) with the government by five years to 2033. Qinetiq’s LTPA contract provides UK armed forces with test and [...]
Britain’s space launch programme could be thwarted by NATO May 19, 2025 Aspirations of UK space launch will soon collide with the new geopolitical realities of global security, writes Susan Walton.
BAE Systems to spend billions on growth and hire thousands more staff May 7, 2025 BAE Systems has said it plans to hire thousands more staff as the company prepares for an increase in global defence spending. Shares in the London-listed company have rocketed more than 50 per cent since the start of the year. This morning, it said it plans to recruit as many as 2,400 new apprentices, undergraduates, and graduates [...]
RAF fighter jets intercept Russian aircraft flying close to Nato airspace April 20, 2025 RAF fighter jets have intercepted two Russian aircraft flying close to Nato airspace over the Baltic Sea. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said two RAF typhoons were scrambled from Malbork air vase in Poland on Tuesday to intercept a Russian Ilyushin Il-20M “Coot-A” intelligence aircraft. On Thursday, another two typhoons were scrambled from the base [...]
Healey warns against ‘forgetting about the war’ at Ukraine summit April 10, 2025 Allies of Ukraine should guard against “jeopardising the peace by forgetting about the war” amid plans for a peacekeeping force from 30 ‘coalition of the willing’ nations, John Healey has said. Proposals for that peacekeeping force in Ukraine are “real and substantial”, the defence secretary said, at the start of a further meeting of the [...]
Ukraine peacekeeping talks reaching ‘military plan’ stage, says Starmer March 20, 2025 Talks on the Ukraine peacekeeping force are reaching the stage of a “military plan” aimed at “keeping the skies safe”, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The Prime Minister has said the “timetable now is coming into focus”, and that if a deal comes to fruition, the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ needs to be ready [...]