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Healey to put defence at centre of reindustrialisation push in first Labour conference speech as finance minister

Finance minister John Healey will tell Labour's annual conference on Monday that a 'new age of industrialisation' built around defence projects, including three new floating docks for submarines on the Clyde, is the route to growth and jobs.

By James Calloway · · 1 min read

Official portrait of John Healey, the UK's finance minister
UK Parliament / House of Commons, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Britain’s finance minister John Healey will use his first speech to the governing Labour Party’s annual conference as Chancellor on Monday to put defence at the heart of what he will call a “new age of industrialisation”, aimed at spurring the country’s anaemic economic growth.

Healey will say British firms will deliver multi-billion pound defence projects, including 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.

The speech is designed to give substance to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s pledge to reindustrialise Britain, made when he became the nation’s seventh leader in a decade in July. Burnham has committed to meeting a NATO target of raising the core defence budget to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2035.

Healey resigned as defence minister under former prime minister Keir Starmer over what he felt was inadequate spending on defence; he had pushed for 3 per cent of GDP by 2030 but failed to persuade Starmer, which Reuters reports was part of the reason he quit. New defence minister Wes Streeting said defence spending should drive reindustrialisation: “That means backing British by buying British wherever our industry can deliver.”

The government still faces a £4.7 billion gap in its Defence Investment Plan, and Healey has little room for manoeuvre ahead of his first budget on October 28, with the Middle East conflict impacting energy costs and finances tight.

Sources

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