The Conservative Party says it would cut funding for green energy projects and redirect the money into defence, arguing the UK needs to be ready for war.
Party leader Kemi Badenoch says a future Conservative government would move £17bn into the military, calling defence the government’s top priority.
Badenoch said: "The next Conservative government will move funding from [Energy Secretary] Ed Miliband's vanity Net Zero projects and use it to back our military to accelerate their war readiness."
The party says a new Sovereign Defence Fund, backed by private investment, could mobilise up to £50bn.
Under the plans, £6bn would be moved from research and development to the Ministry of Defence, and £11bn from the National Wealth Fund would be redirected from clean energy projects to defence and national resilience.
"Look at their record: their time in office starved our forces of funding, drove down morale and left Britain less safe. They did it before, and they'd do it again," a Conservative party spokesperson said.
Labour has dismissed the proposals as “fantasy figures”, saying the Conservatives left the armed forces underfunded during their time in power.
The UK government has pledged to increase defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027 and 3.5% by 2035, but the Conservatives argue this is too slow and are calling for spending to reach 3% by the end of the decade.
Under the proposals, the National Wealth Fund, launched last year, would be renamed the National Defence and Resilience Bank.
Originally set up to support economic growth and clean energy, its remit was expanded in March to include investments linked to the UK’s defence and security.
Meanwhile, Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said the pace of private investment in the defence industry was “painfully slow” and urged more young people to pursue careers in the sector.
Earlier this year, the government launched UK Defence Innovation, an organisation with an annual budget of at least £400m to invest in new technologies and boost jobs. However, a long-awaited defence investment plan, expected in the autumn, has been delayed.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he thinks there is a chance of a peace being reached with Ukraine. He told the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia that he believed there was "a chance of finding a solution," to the conflict.
The U.S. has launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran, targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sites as Tehran retaliated against U.S. positions across the region, while Iranian officials said at least five people were killed and dozens wounded at a wedding near Sirik.
The Iranian Health Ministry said at least 18 people were killed and 142 others injured in U.S. airstrikes carried out between 30 August and 2 September.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Kaia Kallas says the bloc will tighten enforcement of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine. EU foreign ministers were meeting in Ireland following renewed Russian strikes on cities across Ukraine.
Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for the 3rd of September, covering the latest developments.
Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy says envoys from the United States will be visiting Moscow and Kyiv to negotiate an end to the conflict.
The Trump administration pressured U.S. space companies not to attend a high-profile space summit in Paris organised by French President Emmanuel Macron, prompting a last-minute reshuffle and the cancellation of some planned announcements, according to sources familiar with the matter.
A Russian court on Thursday imposed restrictions on Lida Moniava, the founder of a children’s hospice, who is accused of spreading false information about the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine.
China’s state-owned shipping giant COSCO has used concealed equipment aboard some of its vessels to collect intelligence on military communications near the coastlines of countries including the U.S., according to two senior Trump administration officials.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that would block federal funding for universities that boycott Israel, as Republicans push ahead with pro-Israel measures despite growing criticism of the Israeli government over the war in Gaza.
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