Category Archives: Military

MoD seeks out-of-court resolution over compensation battle with gay veterans

Posted on by

Exclusive: West Streeting says MoD in talks amid legal challenge by LGBT staff forced out of military

Wes Streeting is pursuing an out-of-court resolution to a legal battle over compensation for gay veterans who were forced to resign from the armed forces because of their sexuality.

The defence secretary told the Guardian the Ministry of Defence was holding talks this week in the midst of a high court challenge over rules that blocked some veterans receiving £50,000 payments despite being forced out of military service.

Continue reading...

UK to deploy fighter jets to protect Saudi Arabia from Houthi attacks

Posted on by

RAF Typhoon fighters to fly defensive missions over cities and infrastructure in extension of UK support for Riyadh

RAF Typhoon fighters are to be used in efforts to protect Saudi Arabia from attack by Yemen’s Houthis, flying protective missions over the country’s cities and critical infrastructure as western allies increase their intervention in the escalating conflict.

The operation – the most significant military mission signed off by Andy Burnham as prime minister – will involve RAF pilots attempting to shoot down Houthi missiles and drones, which attacked Saudi airports and oil facilities.

Continue reading...

Farage denies Reform would let troops shoot small boats after Jenrick’s ‘lethal force’ claim

Posted on by

Party leader says Jenrick’s comments ‘misconstrued’, after MP said Royal Marines would be allowed to fire at those on boats

Nigel Farage has denied that a Reform UK government would authorise lethal force against migrant crossings in the Channel, hours after one of his MPs said the Royal Marines should be permitted to fire on the boats.

Robert Jenrick, a Reform UK MP who defected from the Conservatives, had told TalkTV that the party would deploy the Royal Marines to take boats back to France.

Continue reading...

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards ‘almost certainly’ behind RAF Fairford threats, says Burnham

Posted on by

UK to bring further sanctions against Tehran and IRGC after assessment Iran was likely to have coordinated incident

Andy Burnham said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were “almost certainly” behind threats to RAF Fairford, the firmest attribution of responsibility made so far by the UK after an incident late last month.

The prime minister told MPs the UK would bring further sanctions against Tehran and the IRGC in the aftermath of an ambiguous episode that, despite over a fortnight of police investigation, has yet to lead to anybody being charged.

Continue reading...

UK’s military needs to focus spending on domestic defence, not overseas missions – report

Posted on by

Exclusive: Thinktank says Britain’s drive towards global commitments is symptom of ‘outdated foreign policy’

The UK’s military is too focused on global commitments at the expense of domestic defence, meaning the government’s planned increase in defence spending is likely to result in even greater waste, a thinktank report has warned.

According to an analysis by researchers at the Transition Security Project, Britain has the most overseas-oriented military among European nations, with almost a quarter of the defence budget spent on commitments across five continents.

Continue reading...

Questions remain over Iran’s link to alleged RAF Fairford bomb plot

Posted on by

Tehran has been trying to step up attacks on targets in the west but its track record has been mixed

Investigators may be some way from determining exactly what led five men with three vans to a village just outside RAF Fairford in the small hours of Sunday – but the fact they have all been released on bail without immediate charge suggests they are not deemed to pose a serious and violent threat.

In a moment where wider geopolitical tensions mean external threats are perceived to be close, the question of whether Iran had a hand in the alleged plot remains open. Nonetheless, the bailing of the men is a mercifully lower-key development in an investigation that appeared of the utmost gravity.

Continue reading...

UK to launch military squadron to protect satellites in space

Posted on by

New RAF unit will warn of incoming missile attacks, and support offensive and defensive operations

A new military unit dedicated to defending satellites, protecting services people need on Earth and potentially supporting offensive operations is being launched by the UK.

The No III Space Effects Squadron will be announced on Wednesday, with the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, warning that Britain needs to “keep pace in the new space race”.

Continue reading...

UK to give support to Saudi jets in attempt to counter Houthi fighters

Posted on by

Andy Burnham seeks stability in Middle East to bring down prices at home as first meeting with Trump looms

The UK has agreed to provide defensive air support to Saudi Arabia to help counter Houthi fighters and restore stability in the Middle East while driving down the cost of living at home, Andy Burnham has said, ahead of his first meeting with Donald Trump.

The prime minister said he had agreed to a request for air-to-air refuelling of Saudi jets to defend energy infrastructure against the Iran-backed rebels and help keep oil flowing from the Gulf to ease global economic turmoil.

Continue reading...

Jaguar Land Rover in talks to sell Defender to Nato countries

Posted on by

Carmaker builds on relationship with British armed forces by seeking to cash in on Europe’s rearmament drive

Jaguar Land Rover is in talks with Nato countries about selling them the newly revamped Defender military vehicle, as the UK-based carmaker seeks to tap into Europe’s defence spending boom.

It is also among carmakers bidding for a UK defence ministry contract worth £900m to replace an ageing fleet of Land Rovers that have been out of production since 2016, competing with General Motors and the UK’s Ineos Automotive, which builds the Grenadier 4x4 for the civilian market.

Continue reading...

Jaguar Land Rover in talks to sell Defender to Nato countries

Posted on by

Carmaker builds on relationship with British armed forces by seeking to cash in on Europe’s rearmament drive

Jaguar Land Rover is in talks with Nato countries about selling them the newly revamped Defender military vehicle, as the UK-based carmaker seeks to tap into Europe’s defence spending boom.

It is also among carmakers bidding for a UK defence ministry contract worth £900m to replace an ageing fleet of Land Rovers that have been out of production since 2016, competing with General Motors and the UK’s Ineos Automotive, which builds the Grenadier 4x4 for the civilian market.

Continue reading...

Fund defence spending from tax rise on middle earners, thinktank tells Healey

Posted on by

Resolution Foundation argues that UK’s internationally low ‘tax wedge’ must rise to pay for defence ambitions

The chancellor, John Healey, must be prepared to raise taxes for middle earners if he wants to fund significantly higher defence spending, the Resolution Foundation thinktank has said.

Healey resigned from Keir Starmer’s government in June, protesting against what he argued was the then prime minister’s failure to adequately fund defence.

Continue reading...

Wes Streeting describes ‘unbelievable volume’ of homophobic abuse since becoming defence secretary

Posted on by

Streeting says role is chance to show strength and challenge stereotype that ‘persists in dark corners of internet’

Wes Streeting has described receiving a mass of homophobic abuse since he was made defence secretary last month, while also saying his appointment had been welcomed by some in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a sign of change.

Until 2000, gay men and lesbian women were banned from serving in the UK military, with about 200-plus personnel thrown out of the forces each year due to their sexuality – an estimate, as proper records were not kept.

Continue reading...

Iran-linked hackers blamed for cyber-attack that shut down UK power plant

Posted on by

Incident marks apparent escalation by Tehran in its in retaliation against UK over allowing US to use British bases

Hackers linked to Iran have been blamed for a cyber-attack that caused a British power plant to be temporarily shut down.

The incident involved a small-scale energy generator, according to the UK government, which said that at no point was there a risk to the wider energy system.

Continue reading...

Burnham to meet Zelenskyy at UK naval base in show of ‘unwavering’ support

Posted on by

Ukrainian president will be first overseas visitor for new British prime minister

Volodymyr Zelenskyy will become Andy Burnham’s first overseas visitor as prime minister, in a visit that Burnham said underlined Britain’s “unwavering” backing for Ukraine.

Less than two weeks after Keir Starmer travelled to Kyiv for the final foreign visit of his prime ministership, the Ukrainian president will on Monday join Burnham at a naval base where Ukrainian forces have been receiving training.

Continue reading...

UK ‘ready to defend itself’ after Iranian threat over US bases

Posted on by

IRGC claims base in south-west England was used by US to launch bombing missions, making it ‘legitimate target’

The government has said the UK is “ready to defend itself” after Iran’s military warned that any bases being used by the US were “legitimate targets”.

The UK has allowed the US to launch “defensive” operations from British bases hosting American planes since the start of its war on Iran but has refused to help in offensive operations.

Continue reading...

MoD cancels army training in Kenya over powers to prosecute British soldiers

Posted on by

September exercise called off after Kenya raises concerns over funding and jurisdiction for criminal offences

The British army has been forced to cancel training for its troops in Kenya after the Kenyan government refused to ratify a bilateral defence agreement.

While the UK government wanted to renew the existing agreement, Kenyan lawmakers had sought changes to give local authorities greater powers to hold British soldiers accountable for any offences committed in the country.

Continue reading...

Russian warship carries out rare live-fire exercise 45 miles off UK coast

Posted on by

New defence secretary Wes Streeting denounces drill by Neustrashimy as ‘performative and irresponsible’

A Russian warship fired its main cannon in a short notice test 45 miles south of Plymouth on Monday, the day Andy Burnham was appointed as prime minister.

The Neustrashimy suddenly announced it intended to fire its guns in the morning and requested that a British warship, which had been tracking it, retreat a couple of miles to a safe distance.

Continue reading...

Treasury yet to do due diligence on finding extra money for UK’s Nato spend

Posted on by

How to hit the 3.5% of GDP defence spending promise would be a matter for ‘the next prime minister’, MPs told

The Treasury has as yet carried out no analysis of the trade-offs necessary for the UK to hit the 3.5% of GDP defence spending promise made to Nato, the department’s chief secretary has said.

Under robust questioning in a joint session of the Treasury and defence select committees on Wednesday, Lucy Rigby repeatedly said that how to fund additional defence spending would be a matter for “the next prime minister”.

Continue reading...

Minister calls on Burnham to show path to 3.5% target on UK defence spending

Posted on by

Dan Jarvis, who wants to stay on as defence secretary, says he is confident PM-in-waiting values national security

The new defence secretary, Dan Jarvis, has called on Andy Burnham to increase defence spending dramatically from 2030 and “evidence the trajectory” towards a Nato target that would mean £25bn a year more for the military by the middle of the next decade.

The former paratrooper said he was confident that the prime minister-in-waiting valued national security, as he openly lobbied him for cash that would probably have to come from cuts elsewhere.

Continue reading...

Starmer unveils extra £15bn for UK defence, with some road and energy projects scrapped to fund rise – politics live

Posted on by

Starmer says defence spending cannot be ‘bottomless pit’ and MoD has to ‘spend better’

Keir Starmer is speaking now.

They are at Malloy Aeronautics, a firm that designs heavy-lift drones, and Starmer says this morning they showed him one of the heaviest drones he had ever seen.

Last year, I made the decision in the national interest to reprioritise aid spending towards defence and achieve the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the cold war.

That was the right choice because the world has changed. National security is economic security.

Continue reading...