15. Weekly Newsletter
Ministry of Defence looks to shake things up
Minister for Defence Procurement James Cartilidge stated that overseas sales prospects would get more weighting when the Ministry of Defence assesses various bids for new weapons as it looks to implement major reforms. Britain has had a disastrous history of buying weapons with “exquisite procurement”, whereby extra improvements are made during the process, resulting in significant delays and unexpected costs.
This reform is designed to fix a system of overpaying and lead times years longer than initially expected, wasting billions of pounds in taxpayers’ money. One very recent example of this was the £5.5 billion Ajax armoured vehicle, whereby a contract was signed in 2014 to deliver 589 state-of-the-art armoured vehicles within three years. The vehicles had many development issues with glitches, and Britain will not receive all 589 vehicles until 2029. The reforms to improve the efficiency of time and money come at a time of growing concerns about the UK’s defence capabilities in an increasingly more tense global picture.
Newspapers
Over the last seven days, the UK’s front page news cycle has covered varied topics. UK train passengers are hit with more disruptions as more strikes take place, a rise in civil engineering activity boosts UK construction sector and UK wage growth expectations fall to a 2-year low. Some of the newspaper headlines from this week were:
- Financial Times- ‘UK house prices fell in March for first time in 6 months, says Halifax’
- Financial Times-‘Thames Water’s parent company defaults on debt’
- Financial Times- ‘Asking price premium signals rebound in London housing market’
- Financial Times- ‘Looming rise in student numbers sparks calls for skills reform in England’
- The Guardian- ‘UK rent rises forecast to outpace wage growth for three years’
- The Times- ‘Top Currys shareholder urges sale of mobile phones arm’
UK looking to bring Japan into the AUKUS
The Australian, UK, and US defence ministers stated they “consider” involving Japan in AUKUS advanced technology projects, the so-called pillar II of the security partnership, with the UK spearheading the deepened cooperation with Japan. However, due to current US export-control restrictions that already hinder the sharing of technological secrets with Australia and the UK, Pentagon officials say that there is “no chance” to do so with Japan as of now. United States Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the US has been encouraging Japan to implement structures to bolster security systems to share classified intelligence with more ease and less risk of exposure. Yet, not all necessary steps have been taken.
The AUKUS Pact is a trilateral security partnership founded back in 2021 involving Australia, the UK, and the US, aiming to assist Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines as part of an effort to counter China’s growing strength and influence in the region.
