UK’s Healey puts defense in focus for reindustrialization push

LIVERPOOL, England — British finance minister John Healey will put his support firmly behind firms investing in defense on Monday, part of what he will describe as a new industrialization drive to try to spur the nation’s anaemic economic growth.

In his first speech to the governing Labour Party’s annual conference as finance minister, Healey will aim to put flesh on the bones of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s pledge to reindustrialize Britain when he became the nation’s seventh leader in a decade in July.

Healey, who resigned as defense minister under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer over what he felt was inadequate spending on defense, will say a “new age of industrialization” will see British firms deliver multi-billion pound defense projects, such as three new floating docks for submarines in Clyde in Scotland.

“By backing British shipyards, we are not only boosting national security but also securing resilience in the industries that will drive growth today while building the capabilities the country needs for the future,” Healey said in a statement.

Burnham has pledged to meet a NATO target of increasing the core defense budget to 3.5% of GDP by 2035.

Burnham eyes defense-sector jobs

The announcement is a taste of what Healey hopes to signal with his speech — that Burnham’s government hopes the route to boosting growth and reducing unemployment, and the welfare bill, will stem from new jobs created by investments in sectors such as defense.

At a conference aimed at firing up Labour members and lawmakers with a message of hope, the new government also has a difficult task in navigating competing pressures — Burnham has promised to offer the public breathing space from cost-of-living pressures, but there is a cost to that.

With conflict in the Middle East impacting energy costs and government finances tight ahead of Healey’s first budget on Oct. 28, Britain’s new finance minister has little room to maneuver.

On defense, his government also faces the need to fill a £4.7 billion ($6.2 billion) gap in its Defence Investment Plan, a blueprint some military experts say does not go far enough in meeting Britain’s promise to increase defense spending.

Healey has as yet not set out whether the government will reach defense spending of 3% of GDP by 2030 — a target he wanted but failed to persuade Starmer to sign up to, part of the reason he quit as defense minister.

Burnham’s new defense minister Wes Streeting said defense would drive Britain’s reindustrialization.

“Defense spending should make Britain stronger in every sense,” Streeting said. “That means backing British by buying British wherever our industry can deliver.”

英国利物浦——英国财政大臣约翰·希利将于周一坚定支持企业投资国防领域，他将把此举描述为一项新的工业化运动，旨在刺激英国疲软的经济增长。

希利将以财政大臣的身份首次在执政的工党年度大会上发表讲话，力图落实首相安迪·伯纳姆在7月成为英国十年来第七位领导人时所作出的重振英国工业化的承诺。

希利曾因认为国防开支不足而在前首相基尔·斯塔默领导下辞去国防部长一职。他表示，“工业化新时代”将使英国公司承建数十亿英镑的国防项目，例如在苏格兰克莱德建造三个新的潜艇浮动船坞。

“通过支持英国造船厂，我们不仅增强了国家安全，而且还确保了推动当今经济增长的行业的韧性，同时为国家未来发展所需的能力建设奠定了基础，”希利在一份声明中表示。

伯纳姆承诺实现北约到 2035 年将核心国防预算提高到国内生产总值 3.5% 的目标。

伯纳姆看好国防部门的工作机会

这项声明预示着希利希望通过他的演讲传达的信息——伯纳姆政府希望通过投资国防等行业创造新的就业机会，来促进经济增长、降低失业率，并推动福利法案的通过。

在旨在以希望的信息激励工党成员和议员的会议上，新政府还面临着应对各种相互冲突的压力的艰巨任务——伯纳姆承诺让公众从生活成本压力中喘口气，但这需要付出代价。

由于中东冲突影响了能源成本，加上政府财政在希利10月28日公布首份预算案之前就已捉襟见肘，英国新任财政大臣回旋余地很小。

在国防方面，他的政府还面临着填补国防投资计划中 47 亿英镑（62 亿美元）缺口的需要，一些军事专家表示，该计划在履行英国增加国防开支的承诺方面做得还不够。

希利尚未明确政府是否会在 2030 年前实现国防开支占 GDP 3% 的目标——这是他想要的目标，但他未能说服斯塔默同意，这也是他辞去国防部长职务的部分原因。

伯纳姆任命的新国防大臣韦斯·斯特里廷表示，国防将推动英国的再工业化。

斯特里廷表示：“国防开支应该让英国在各个方面都更加强大。这意味着要支持英国产品，只要我们的产业能够提供，就应该购买英国制造的产品。”