At the Lord Mayor’s Mansion House Defence and Security Lecture on 20 October 2025, Defence Secretary John Healey MP delivered a clear message to industry and allies alike: the UK is entering “a new era of threat” that demands “a new era for defence”.
Speaking to city leaders, defence suppliers and representatives of the Armed Forces, Healey set out the government’s strategic vision to strengthen national resilience, rebuild industrial capacity and position Britain as Europe’s foremost defence innovator.
“The world is more unstable, more uncertain, more dangerous,” Healey warned, citing conflicts stretching from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific. Against this backdrop, he confirmed the largest increase in UK defence spending since the Cold War – with spending to rise to 2.5% of GDP by 2028, on a path to 5% by 2035.
Central to this shift is the recently published Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which Healey described as a “landmark” plan to move from modernisation to transformation, focusing on warfighting readiness, deterrence and defence innovation. The review commits 10% of the equipment budget to novel technologies and establishes UK Defence Innovation, a new body with a ring-fenced £400 million annual budget to accelerate the adoption of AI, autonomy, quantum and next-generation drone systems.
Healey emphasised that the UK’s security depends as much on its industrial base as on its Armed Forces. “A nation’s military is only as strong as the industry, investors and innovators that stand behind it,” he said, urging companies across the UK supply chain to deepen their collaboration with government and the Armed Forces.
The Defence Secretary also reaffirmed Britain’s leadership on Ukraine, announcing that the UK will double investment in drones and autonomous systems to over £4 billion within this Parliament and begin joint production of Ukrainian ‘Octopus’ interceptor drones in the UK.
Looking ahead, Healey outlined his vision for a “new deal for European security” built on three pillars: a secure and sovereign Ukraine, stronger NATO integration and industrial innovation at “wartime pace”. “We will not be sentimental about the past,” he concluded. “This is an age for hard power, strong alliances and sure diplomacy – and Britain will lead from the front.“
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Post written by: Robert Atherton
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