doom mongers are simply wrong on their weight would lead to sailing blindly into an age of autocracy. so we must make a different choice. and the history of our great island nation actually shows us the way. britain has often accomplished the seemingly impossible before. our history is littered with moments when we faced down the threat and we have triumphed. but looking ahead, we are in a new era and fee must be prepared. to deter our enemies, to lead our allies, and defend our nation. in terms of deterrence, it is about the uk gaining a strategic advantage over our enemies. the foundation of that advantage is of course on nuclear enterprise. at a time of mounting nuclear danger, are

continuous at sea deterrent provides the ultimate protection. and that is why we are spending around £31 billion to bring in the next generation of dreadnought submarines and upgrade or deterrent. in a more contested world we need to bring the same world of deterrence to our conventional forces so modernisation a critical priority. taking the long term compatibility decisions, the need to transform our armed forces into a formidable deterrent, enabling them to maintain the uk strategic advantage, empowering them to be able to deliver the outcomes we need in multiple theatres at once. the growing success of that growth was powerfully shown last week when in less than 2a hours, the united kingdom was able to both take action to defend ourselves against

the houthis and oft lift support to ukraine to a new record levels. if vladimir putin thought that we would be distracted by events in the middle east that last week because of the long term decisions this government has taken, his hopes were surely dashed. in a complex world, no nation can afford to go it alone so we must continue to strengthen our alliances so the world knows they cannot be broken. defence is in many ways the cornerstone of our relations across the globe. our world leading armed forces, cutting—edge industrial base, willingness to support our allies is the reason why britain is the partner of choice for so many. and amongst our partnerships, nato remains pre—eminent. 75 years after

its foundation, the nato of today is bigger than ever. but challenges are bigger than ever. but challenges are bigger as well. and that is why the uk has committed nearly the totality of our air, land and maritime assets to nato. but in 2024, i'm determined to nato. but in 2024, i'm determined to do even more. and that's why i can announce today the uk will be sending some 20,000 personnel to lead one of the largest deployments in nato since the end of the cold war. exercise steadfast defender. we will see our militaryjoining forces with counterparts from 30 nato countries plus sweden, providing reassurance against the menace of vladimir putin, or carrier strike group will be out in full force with our magnificent black ship hms queen elizabeth leading the way and flying

from her decks will be the fifth generation f 35 lightning jets, accompanied by a fearsome balance of frigates, destroyers and helicopters. we'll also have a submarine patrolling the depths in one of our poseidon peer conducting surveillance from the skies above and more than 400 of our brilliant royal marines will be training in the arctic circle, contending with some of the toughest environments anywhere in the planet. on land, we will be deploying over 16,000 light mechanised brigade combat teams from the seventh light infantry which superbly met all recent response in kosovo. all of which makes this our largest deployment of land forces to nato in 40 years. but nato is only

part of our rich tapestry of partnerships. in this government has taken bold decisions to embark on the partnerships we need to defend ourselves from a more dangerous world. we are rapidly building our partnership with aukus and i recently signed an agreement with japan and italy, these projects not just about building six generation budget plans, nuclear subs and innovative new forms of defence but about shaping our strategic edge so we can maintain our advantage over our adversaries. they are precisely deep relationships needed to preserve national and regional security. and they are emblematic of the way we work in the future. but it's not enough to simply deter. we

must also lead. standing up for our values around the world and ukraine is a test case. this year, its future may well be decided. valiant ukrainian warriors have been incredible, successfully pushing back invading russian forces, retaking 50% of the territory stolen by russia, opening up a maritime passage in the black sea. but the west must not let them down. british leadership has already had a galvanising effect, we've convened some ten countries to help ukraine train here in the uk and today i can announce that our programs have now trained over 60,000 ukrainian troops since russia launched its invasion of ukraine in 2014. last month launched launch day yet maritime coalition with norway, to defend

ukraine's maritime flank. since then, over 20 partner nations have joined the coalition. the international community cannot let this support slip. putin believes the west lacks staying power. and since the future of the world order is at stake, we must prove him wrong. rewarding his work with victory would only increase the risk of escalation. not only because he is hellbent on rebuilding the russian empire but because it would send a signal to others of weakness to all would—be aggressors. that is why on friday the prime minister signed the historic uk ukraine agreement. all security cooperation. the start of the 100 year alliance that we are building our ukrainian friends. it seems as increasing our

military support to £2.5 billion taking the total military support and eight to £7 billion with even more gifted directly from the uk equipment inventory. £200 million will be president to juicing and securing thousands of drones including surveillance and long—range strike drums, continuing the ukpos michael proud record, i was the first to get ukraine exactly what they need. the uk was the first to provide ukraine with weapons training, the first to provide anti—tank missiles, the first to give modern tanks, the first to send long—range missiles. none will become the largest provider of drones as well. these will be manufactured here in the uk in tandem with international partners, helping to one hearts and mind

vehicle capabilities at home as well. but our new agreement with ukraine is about so much more than money. it formalises support in everything from intelligence sharing and cyber, to security, medical and military training. and it seems as take the first giant step towards a century long partnership. britain understands that the battle in ukraine is existential. it proves there is no such thing as an isolated conflict and to show at the international border, we must be able to act globally. so just as we were there to help evacuate british citizens from sudan last year, just as we are working with partners to ensure the territorial integrity of our commonwealth ally, kiana, we have also been a critical part of the us led international operation

to protect freedom of navigation in the red sea and the gulf of aden. some 15% of the world �*s shipping passes through these narrow shipping lanes but the houthis have persistently violated the law, medicine commercial vessels in the region. in the red sea, we have seen how brilliant the royal navy, acting in self—defence against the intolerable and growing number of houthi attacks and earlier this month, the world sent a very clear message to the iranian backed houthis. end your illegal and unjustified actions, stopped risking innocent lives, cease threatening the global economy. we could not have been clearer with our warnings which they chose to ignore and enough was enough. so last thursday, the prime minister and i authorised

raf precision strikes using four raf typhoons if gr for and supported by two furniture air refuelling tankers and the result is the houthis have been dealt a blow. our decisive response in the red sea under uplift and support for ukraine offer a direct blueprint for how the uk must continue to lead in the future, offering our unwavering support to our allies in times of struggle, galvanising global response to any malign actors seeking to break rules —based international order and acting decisively when the moment because for us to defend ourselves. so, deter and lead, which brings me to the final essential element of being prepared. defending our nation. if we are to defend our

homeland, we must ensure our entire defence ecosystem is ready. firstly, we must make our industry more resilient to empower us to rearm and resupply and innovate faster than our opponents. there is a charge opportunity for british industry. the uk has long been a byword for pioneering technology and we gave the world the radar, jet engines, the world the radar, jet engines, the world wide web, we have not lost our spark of creativity. on the contrary, the uk is one of three $1 trillion tech economies. butjust imagine what we could do if we managed to better harness that latent inspiration, ingenuity, invention for the defence of our nation. just think about the game changing tech we could supply to our great men and women. from the pilots ready to scramble at moma �*s notice,

soldiers protecting flank of nato, the sailors deployed across the seven seas to secure prosperity. two are absolutely essential royal marine commandos without whom we could not properly defend our nation. to those you will never see, and never know but who are out there, giving their all on your behalf. they are the cornerstone of our defence. and we owe them an unimaginable debt of gratitude. which is why my commitment to getting them what they do serve as iron cast. after all, are a great resource has always been the men and women who work tirelessly to protect our nation. but to defend our nation from the increasing dangers of tomorrow, they must have what they

need to do the job. and that is why this conservative government has always and has already taken vital steps to increase defence spending. approving the larger sustained increase in defence spending since the cold war. injecting a further £5 billion last year to replenish stocks and modernise our enterprise. delivering the largest cash terms defence budget spending over £50 billion on the defence of our nation. and just last week, not only maintaining our support to ukraine, but increasing it to the highest level ever. to some, the coast may seem steep but britain cannot afford to reverse the gains we have made and under this conservative government, we never will. we will use our influence to ensure the

other allies and friends faced with this new reality keep up their commitment to nato as well. so we find ourselves at the dawn of this new era. the berlin wall, a distant memory. and we have come full circle. moving from a post—war to a prewar world. an age of idealism has been replaced by a period of hardheaded realism. today, our adversaries are busy rebuilding their barriers, old enemies are reanimated, new foes are taking shape, battle lines are being redrawn. the tanks are literally on the ukrainian lawn of europe and the foundation of the world order is being shaken to its core. we stand at this crossroads, whether to surrender to a sea of troubles or do

everything we can deter, i believe in reality it is no choice at all. to guarantee our freedoms, we must be prepared to deter. the enemies are gathering around us, we need to ensure that we lead our allies in whatever conflicts to come, defend our nation whatever threat should arise, this is what britain has always done. and it is what we must do it again if we like margaret thatcher speaking here 35 years ago, once again going to be able to dream up once again going to be able to dream up that future without rules. thank you very much. applause thank you. and thank you for coming this morning- —

thank you. and thank you for coming this morning. we _ thank you. and thank you for coming this morning. we have _ thank you. and thank you for coming this morning. we have a _ thank you. and thank you for coming this morning. we have a number- thank you. and thank you for coming this morning. we have a number of i this morning. we have a number of members of the press here, i have been given in the let me go to the bbc and jonathan beale.— been given in the let me go to the bbc and jonathan beale. thank you, secretary of — bbc and jonathan beale. thank you, secretary of state. _ bbc and jonathan beale. thank you, secretary of state. a _ bbc and jonathan beale. thank you, j secretary of state. a comprehensive picture of the threats facing the uk, where there was not was a commitment, you said you will spend 50 billion but if you look at the mod finances at the moment there's according to the a0 and 18 billion black hole in your budget, you at the moment are looking at retiring some ships early and mothballing the only two assault ships, there is another serving of your own minister is a crisis in recruitment. i'm jet you are asking the armed forces to do more with less. a lot of them because you mentioned doesn't come online until the 2030 so why are you not meeting that 2.5% plus you say you want to meet. why cannot you do that here now? and secondly on the

red sea, you say you doubt the houthis ably but it's clearly not a decisive blow so how much do you envisage you will have to take military action again and conduct another set of strikes in the near future? . ~ another set of strikes in the near future? ., ~ , ., ., ~ another set of strikes in the near future? . ~ ,, . ~' ,, future? thank you. thank you. on spending. — future? thank you. thank you. on spending. to _ future? thank you. thank you. on spending. to be — future? thank you. thank you. on spending, to be clear, _ future? thank you. thank you. on spending, to be clear, we - future? thank you. thank you. on spending, to be clear, we are - spending, to be clear, we are spending, to be clear, we are spending more than we have ever spent before, we are comfortably well over the 2% nowadays and as i said we are aiming for 2.5% as economic conditions allow. in other words we've gone from a massive recapitalisation programme and am looking at our service chiefs sitting in the front row, each of the services has been massively recapitalised in turn. you mention ships and let me keep this up once and for all, i ships and let me keep this up once and forall, i keep ships and let me keep this up once and for all, i keep seeing this linger, it's true we will have to make decisions, none had been taken yet but figured through example at to operate for 18 years and have been operating twice that long or

not being retired early if indeed they are and any government has to make a sensible decision and the first lord i am sure will save us, about whether you want to put ships into maintenance much tax yet in order to bring them out after partnerships are in line so i think there are sensible decisions there. the landing ships, there is no decision, they are not going to be scrapped, i keep meeting they are going to be scrapped, that is not the case. as ever the navy will make its decision about the level of readiness for the ships. you are right about retention and i think in some senses, this is a product of having an economy which against other words, particularly given the pandemic has record levels of employment and actually historically low levels of unemployment, lower than many of our european partners for example. so the employment market is tight everywhere but one of the things i want to do is make

sure the people we have got steady and one of the commitments i gave when i became defence secretary five months ago now, i guess, is that we cannot expect our brave men and women to go abroad and fight for us and come home and live in substandard accommodation so we have a £400 million programme being masterminded to help improve that accommodation which will be one of the things i hope horts people in the things i hope horts people in the happily for longer. we have a very big recruitment programme which i can take you along and on the 2.5%, will be in clear, moving towards it, we are already at 53.5 billion including ukraine expenditure so we are putting a lot more into our military. on the red sea. nobody can say that we did not give the iranian—backed houthis every possible warning to cease and desist. we made it very clear, i worked very closely with our

american allies on the messaging on this, we send messages directly and indirectly to iran and houthis to see time was running out but they decided on the 9th of january to enact an enormous mission, trying to hit a lot of ships. this is illegal activity. we host the international maritime organisation here in london. we are, if you'd like, in some senses, the guardians of this international free trade, some senses, the guardians of this internationalfree trade, it some senses, the guardians of this international free trade, it matters to us as an economy which brings 90% of our product in by sea. so we have hit the houthis as you said, we intend it as a single action and will be monitored very carefully to see for that they didn't next and how they respond. we will see from there. i cannot predict the future for you. there. i cannot predict the future foryou. but there. i cannot predict the future for you. but i can say it is unacceptable to have a major sea

passage, international waters with ships that had nothing to do with israel and gaza, in most cases, over 50 nations have had the ships attacked or interests attacked, that cannot continue and it is absolutely right and i think we can be part of britain and the us standing up to that with our lives from a number of other countries assisting.— other countries assisting. george cross from _ other countries assisting. george cross from the _ other countries assisting. george cross from the times. _ other countries assisting. george cross from the times. secretaryl other countries assisting. george | cross from the times. secretary of state, ecg intended the air strikes as a single action but clearly the houthis have been able to launch fresh at us warships. if the aim is to degrade the houthis capabilities with airstrikes, what can the uk and us are cheaper the saudi led coalition and what it felt to achieve over eight years and roger moore putting bets on the ground at some of my copy today. if i may on defence spending, you talked about a record uplift but the majority of that uplift is going to the nuclear

deterrent, i think nine of £11 billion of the uplift over the next five years stott dominic cummings has talked about our nuclear infrastructure rotting. he sort of describe that as a scandal hidden from public view so should we be worried about our nuclear deterrent? the first war of the battle that the saudis for the houthis for eight years ross not about shipping, they harassed international shipping, this is a different set of circumstances. in particular we are very concerned that via the ayes and ears and intelligence of materials and fundings, ron is providing that to the houthis so there is a clear message to iran in this action is well and we have got those messages to iran directly and indirectly. i've spoken a lot to the saudis and the have reached a peace treaty

potentially with the houthis. this is a completely separate situation and i want to stress, separate from the situation in israel and gaza. it is 2600 kilometres away. that is the distance involved here. so the idea that houthis not... this is a very distinct action, as i said before, will be to what happens next. i should have mentioned tojonathan on the recruitment question on your point on the increase in funding, it's true some of the funding is going to run nuclear in the price for sure but we gave a nearly 10% pay rise to our military this year. last year, in the summer. i do not think there is another area of the public service that is far more of our attempts to attract and retain people to the sector. on infrastructure, as you understand,

we never comment in detail on this side of things other than to say for 34 years, we have had continuous unbroken at sea deterrent and that will always continue and there is a massive investment, £31 billion... you are watching bbc news. our nuclear you are watching bbc news. oi" nuclear industry. having come from the energy sector, as energy secretary previously, i know the level of skills required in the civilian sector are also incredibly important in making sure we enhance our overall ability in nuclear, both civilian and military and this is the first time in living memory, you would have to go back many decades to see us have a national endeavour which is helping to ensure our nuclear defences in the right place and our nuclear power. she studio:

ha en and our nuclear power. she studio: happen watching — and our nuclear power. she studio: happen watching grant _ and our nuclear power. she studio: happen watching grant shapps - and our nuclear power. she studio: happen watching grant shapps give | happen watching grant shapps give his first major speech in london, setting out his vision for defending the uk and allies any more dangerous will focusing on ukraine and the middle east. on the houthis which the uk and us strike in yemen the group attacked red sea cargo ships grant shapps said the houthis had broken the law, menacing commercial vessels and it was a very clear message server sending, illegaland was a very clear message server sending, illegal and unjustified actions, adding enough was enough was enough and he said it needed decisive response as they had delivered the houthis a blow. he said it was intended as a single action but they were monitoring the situation. as part of his speech he announced britain will send 20,000 service personnel to one of the largest military exercises of nato since the cold war as the military alliance practices repelling an invasion by russian forces and on ukraine and russia, we have some

breaking news that i want to bring you that happen for the defence secretary was giving his speech. the ukrainian air force service that it has shut down a russian a 50 and 22 plane in the as of sea area, ukrainian air force saying it has shut down a russian 850 playing and correspond correspondent from bbc monitoring pointing at us this is significant because the 850 provides critical functions such as detecting air defence systems and guided missiles and coordinate targets for russian fighterjets. let me bring in our security correspondent frank gardner who was to the defence secretary but also knows a lot about jets and in particular that russian 850. can you give us an idea of what this means in terms of the war in ukraine with russia? it is

this means in terms of the war in ukraine with russia?— this means in terms of the war in ukraine with russia? it is a small bit of good _ ukraine with russia? it is a small bit of good news _ ukraine with russia? it is a small bit of good news for _ ukraine with russia? it is a small bit of good news for ukraine - ukraine with russia? it is a small i bit of good news for ukraine amidst an awful lot of bad news. the russians do not have a great many of these a 50 reconnaissance planes, about eight of them so that is quite about eight of them so that is quite a serious dent in that number and it's a site ukraine is still able to inflict damage on the russians but the general picture is not good for ukraine. they are running out of ammunition, people, they are being pushed back bit by bit in the donbass region. they are able to every now and then score a long—range hit, such as this and particularly on the russian navy. they had been able to push the russians away from the north west black sea and show they can damage their facilities at ports in crimea and further afield on the russian coast but generally, the situation is not looking good for ukraine. our summer offensive felt. morale is not

that great. they are now suffering another winter of endless drone strikes by the russians, trying to knock at the electricity and trying to make ukraine's shiver in the cold and dark. they are having recruiting problems but the main problem is ammunition. russians have got a huge supply of ammunition, partly thanks to north korea which is given them 1 million artillery shells and the ukrainians are having to ration themselves and their work on the ground in the donbass region is a of artillery and whoever can fire the most shares at the other is in the stronger position. so that is not great for ukraine and remember, the big money that ukraine was relying on coming from the us is being held up on coming from the us is being held up by congress. a $60 billion, roughly £50 billion military aid package that the white house really wants ukraine to half and congress

are saying yes, no, well, maybe, not yet because we want to sort out the border with mexico first. and there are some people in the republican party he did not think the us should be funding ukraine anymore, it is a lost war pouring money after bad. grant shapps saying they will do grant shapps saying they will do more to support ukraine and send these ships?— more to support ukraine and send these ships? £2.5 billion by the uk over a period _ these ships? £2.5 billion by the uk over a period of _ these ships? £2.5 billion by the uk over a period of time _ these ships? £2.5 billion by the uk over a period of time is _ these ships? £2.5 billion by the uk over a period of time is not - these ships? £2.5 billion by the uk over a period of time is not the - over a period of time is not the same as £50 billion from the us right here and now. and another package which is being held up by hungary, that the eu would like to give ukraine. so i think the bigger picture is that europe is already having to plan for how they are going to help ukraine through the coming two years, on the basis that there is a high chance there's going

to be a republican president and