UK defense secretary hails 'closest' alliance with US

UK Defense Secretary Wes Streeting on Monday described the UK-US relationship as “the closest alliance of any two nations on earth.”

He made the remarks at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, a day after a suspected terror plot targeting RAF Fairford, a UK military airbase in Gloucestershire, in southwestern England.

A major incident was declared Sunday in a village near the base that hosts US Air Force operations, with 85 households evacuated after police arrested five men in connection with an investigation involving suspected offenses under the Explosives Act.

“There is a live police investigation and I can’t provide much further detail than that which is reported,” Streeting told the conference.

“But I do want to say that our friendship with America is the closest alliance of any two nations on earth, and we will always stand together against those who hate our freedom and those who wish us harm.”

He praised British security services, armed forces and police for their response to the incident.

$8B submarine infrastructure contract

Streeting also announced a £6 billion ($8 billion) contract to build docks for Britain’s nuclear submarines, describing it as “one of the biggest defense procurement decisions in a generation.”

“There is neither an economic nor a moral justification for Britain’s defense sector hiring thousands of workers from abroad when we have one million young people out of work here at home,” he said.

“But solving that problem needs more than words; it demands bold action, and that’s why today the chancellor and I are taking one of the biggest defense procurement decisions in a generation: the contract to build the docks for our nuclear subs, our ultimate deterrent, £6 billion worth of work,” he noted.

“Today, we commit to that contract staying in this country, supporting thousands of British jobs for years,” he said.

'Spending on defense comes with choices and trade-offs'

Streeting warned that higher defense spending would involve difficult choices, amid debate over the impact of increased military expenditure on the UK economy and public services.

“I know that more spending on defense comes with choices and trade-offs,” he said.

“But our critics on the right need to understand that you don’t make your country stronger by making our people poorer.”

Addressing critics on the left, he added: “And I also have to say directly to some of our critics on the left: you are not defending our public services by attacking investment in our national defenses.”