UK ministers vow Scottish jobs boost as new defence plan unveiled

Five initial “Defence Growth Deals” will be created across Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Defence Secretary John Healey will announce today. Scotland will see investment across its space, maritime and technology industries.

The scheme aims to identify areas with “high growth potential” and bring together industry, local and national government and academia “to make sure that potential is realised”.

It forms a central part of the Defence Industrial Strategy, which is unveiled today. Statistics show more than 11,000 people in Scotland are already employed due to Ministry of Defence industry spending.

Mr Healey said the strategy “will make defence an engine for growth in Scotland, backing jobs, industry and innovators”.

He said: "Defence Growth Deals offer a new partnership with UK defence to build on industrial and innovation strengths that regions already hold. Together we aim to drive an increase in defence skills and jobs across Scotland.

"We want to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a defence firm and will put Britain at the leading edge of innovation."

The UK Government said early analysis suggests there could be demand for up to 50,000 additional defence jobs by 2034/35 as spending increases. The first Defence Growth Deals will be in Plymouth, South Yorkshire, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The plan is underpinned by an increase in defence spending, which will rise to 2.6 per cent of GDP by 2027, with an ambition to reach 3 per cent in the next Parliament.

The Government said Scotland brings a “dynamic mix of growth industries to the UK's defence capabilities, from a rapidly advancing space sector to next-generation maritime innovation centred around the Clyde and Rosyth”.

It said Scotland's shipbuilding heritage combined with its emerging space technologies “makes it uniquely positioned to benefit from this Defence Growth Deal, driving innovation and job creation across traditional maritime sectors and cutting-edge aerospace industries that will strengthen Britain's defence industrial base”.

Details of the growth deal will be unveiled in the coming months.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “This is a plan for good jobs paying decent wages in Scotland and beyond. Through Defence Growth Deals we will unleash the power of local economies while securing our country - building an economy that works for working people, in every part of this country, just as our Plan for Change promised.”

Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "The UK Government’s Defence Industrial Strategy will mean a real boost for Scotland’s economy and create highly skilled jobs for years to come – this is the defence dividend.

“Just last week we saw a £10 billion shipbuilding contract come to Clydeside – that is a fantastic example of what can be achieved with a government committed to ensuring Scotland benefits from the global rise in defence spending.

“Scotland’s defence sector is second to none, and our Defence Industrial Strategy will help ensure it has a thriving future, as part of our plan for change."

On Thursday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he hoped a £10 billion deal to build Norwegian warships in Glasgow would be the first of many.

The deal will see Type 26 frigates constructed at the BAE Systems yard in Govan and will allow a fleet of at least 13 anti-submarine ships from the UK and Norway – at least five of which will be Norwegian – to operate jointly in northern Europe as they look to deal with increased Russian activity.