Submarines, shipyards and reindustrialization: Burnham makes defense an economic engine

LondonIn the world of politics, everything is used. And everything is recycled. The announcement that the British Ministry of Defence made last week, according to which the construction of British submarines will begin next year within the framework of the Aukus agreement with the United States and Australia, has allowed Andy Burnham's executive to claim both national security and industrial policy. This was expressed this Monday by the Treasury Secretary, John Healy, in his speech before the annual Labour Party conference, which is taking place in Liverpool until Wednesday.

"I know how national industrial strength is equivalent to national security –affirmed the minister–. This means that no dictator, no adversary, will ever be able to intimidate us. And that is why today I want to confirm that we, this government, are committed to awarding contracts worth 6 billion pounds to our British shipyards. And the new docks will be built for the new submarines that will defend us all for decades, built in Great Britain by British workers thanks to the decisions of this Labour government".

A part of the investment will serve to expand the facilities in Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, where BAE Systems will carry out the construction of the new submarines. The first one is expected to enter service by the end of the thirties. The submarines, nuclear-powered but without nuclear weapons, will progressively replace those of the Astute class. The exact number of vessels that the United Kingdom will build under the Aukus pact will not be decided until 2028. The planned investment will allow for a future production capacity of one every eighteen months. Barrow, in the northwest of England, is, according to the government, the only place in the United Kingdom with the facilities and resources necessary to build nuclear submarines.

In an effort to boost the economic growth that the Burnham government needs like the air to breathe, in order to fiscally sustain commitments regarding healthcare and elderly care, the government has understood that it is the military industry that will lay the foundations of what Healy has defined as the "reindustrialization" of the country.

The defense investment plan provides for allocating 298 billion pounds to the sector over the next four years. In fact, government defense spending with the UK industry has increased by 3.2%, to a record 34.1 billion pounds, in the 2025-26 fiscal year. Despite the promises made before the party congress, it will be exactly one month from now, on October 28th, when Minister Healey presents the first Burnham Year budget. It will be then that the promises will be confronted with the reality of finances heavily constrained by excess debt and a lack of endemic economic growth.