Arms makers surge as UK govt launches defence spending review

(Sharecast News) - Shares in UK and European weapons jumped on Monday as the British government launched a review as part of its plans to hike defence spending and make the country "war-fighting" ready in response to rising threats from Russia.

However, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to say when he would lift weapons spending to at least 3% of GDP. He recently brought forward plans to increase the figure to 2.5% by controversially slashing the foreign aid budget.

"I am not, as the prime minister of Labour government, going to make a commitment as to the precise date until I can be sure precisely where the money is coming from, how we can make good on that commitment, because I don't believe in performative fantasy politics, and certainly not on defence and security," he told the BBC.

Under the review, Britain plans to build 12 new nuclear submarines under the US-UK-Australia AUKUS treaty although these won't arrive until the late 2030s.

On a visit to a Scottish shipyard, Starmer said his plans were to make Britain a "safer and stronger, a battle-ready, armour-clad nation with the strongest alliances and the most advanced capabilities".

"Russia is already menacing our skies and our waters, and threatening cyber-attacks, so this is a real threat we're dealing with."

Shares in Babcock, BAE Systems, Thales, Saab, Leonardo, Rheinmetall and Qinetiq were all up on the news.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com