Read in Full Defence Secretary John Healey’s Speech to GGF

Secretary of State for Defence John Healey gave a speech at The Good Growth Foundation Tuesday 19th May 2026.

Introduction

Thank you for that introduction Praful, and for the Good Growth Foundation’s contribution.

These have been a difficult few weeks.

Politics is fracturing. Communities are struggling.  Wars are raging. People are worried.

Our world is changing, fast. It is less predictable, more dangerous, with rising demands on defence.

For Labour, the last 10 days has been tough.

We’ve lost many hundreds of good councillors across the country.

We’ve turned in on ourselves.

As John Bew likes to remind me, I’ve been around a while.

Through nearly 30 years in Parliament, in every Labour Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet since Gordon Brown.

My single driving purpose is to see Labour leading a successful Government, a successful Britain.

I have not forgotten the pains of Opposition.

The battle over 14 years to get the public to trust us on managing the economy and defending the country.

We must not lose sight now of the duty people gave us in 2024. The special opportunity of Government.

We must not throw away so lightly the power we were given.

Politics – to me – is not about the individual. It’s about the country.

I don’t care about photo ops or PR firms.

People will not forgive us if they think we’re more concerned about ourselves than we are about them.

And I say to my colleagues what Michael Gove once said: 

“We govern by consent”.

Through the way we behave. The change we deliver. The trust with the public.

And right now, the very credibility of Labour in Government is at stake.

We must get serious. It’s not about us, not about the insiders of politics.

It’s about the interests of the country.

We must be a Government that steers Britain through the conflicts and looming crises we face.

And be a Party that manages ourselves in a constructive, well ordered way.

Voters on 7th May told us: don't tell us how things get better; show us how things get better now.

So today, I want to set out how we can respond – to deliver both the security and the opportunity denied in too many parts of Britain for too long....

And how defence can – and is – playing a leading part in this effort.

Labour Record

We are two years into this Labour government, and I know we are making a difference.

Change is underway. Yes, everyone wants more, more quickly.

But most fair-minded people know change can’t come overnight.

We promised to cut NHS waiting lists: we’ve slashed them by half a million.

We promised protection for renters: so we’ve ended eviction for no fault or reason.

We promised the poorest children a better start in life.

Now, new childcare payments, free breakfast clubs, and the end of the two-child benefit cap are helping hundreds of thousands out of poverty.

We’ve taken back public ownership of the homes our Armed Forces families live in, and already modernised the worst 1200.

Every one of these changes was driven by Labour values, done by Labour in Parliament, delivered in less than two years.

Every one, only possible with Labour in Government.

Changing World

Those Labour values aren’t changing. But the world is.

Global growth is sluggish. Global debt is high. Technological change is accelerating and threats are rising.

We’re in the fifth year of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine; the Iran war sends economic shocks worldwide; and NATO wants allies to be ready to resist a Russian attack by 2030.

Make no mistake, these are serious times. We have to demonstrate – through our deeds – how we will meet this moment.

Since the election, the Prime Minister has shown time and again that he will step up and that Britain can lead internationally.

Before Keir, there was no Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine, there was no Multinational Hormuz mission, no Trinity House Agreement with Germany, Lunna House Agreement with Norway, no reboot of Lancaster House with France.

No new trade deals with the US, India and the EU.

And at the Munich Security Conference in February, Keir said:

“hard power is the currency of the age”.

And confirmed that, even after the largest spending increase on defence since the Cold War, we must:

“spend more, faster”.

And we will spend more. We will go further.

But we can’t just spend more, we’ve got to spend better.

Every pound spent on defence needs to work twice: once for national security and once for British industry.

And defence must also respond to something else too. 

Low growth and falling living standards have created a profound sense of pessimism and powerlessness.

This unease is eroding our politics and communities.

No government can ignore that. 

No Defence Secretary can ignore that.

Working-class families are the lifeblood of our country and backbone of our Armed Forces.

They don’t ask for much. A home they can afford. A job they can be proud of. Wages they can live on. A first-class education for their children.

Above all, a story of hope they can tell their kids, their friends their workmates.

What unites the experience of the place I live in Rotherham, and places I travel to across Britain, is one word: insecurity.

Families are fed up of being buffeted by crisis after crisis.

Facing rising costs, squeezed living standards. 

The insecurity of modern work, with more than four million people self-employed…millions more agency staff…and – shockingly – one million young people not in work, education or training.

And for communities in areas like ours in South Yorkshire, seeing jobs go away and not come back.

Restoring hope, that starts with security. You can’t feel hopeful if you don’t feel secure.

Labour Approach to Defence Investment

I passionately believe that defence can help turn that around.

Because the rising defence investment under this Government comes with a fundamentally new Labour approach.

A defence dividend that boosts British industry.

A “Back British” pledge to boost skills, innovation and productivity.

This is a big shift from the failed past. 

Since the election, we’ve signed over 1,200 major defence contracts… 86 per cent with British-based firms, supporting British jobs.

And 70 percent of these jobs are outside London and the South East.

So look at South Yorkshire, we’ve brought artillery manufacturing back to Britain for the first time in a generation.

Look at Barrow, we’ve created over 1,800 more jobs since the last election.

Look at Scotland’s shipyards on the Clyde, full for years to come.

This doesn’t just happen. This is our Labour choice.

Directing more defence investment to British jobs. And winning record defence exports for Britain.

We want this to be the story in every part of Britain.

Defence as a byword for opportunity. An engine for growth and an engine for hope.

In case anyone is tempted to argue British jobs is not the military’s concern – the lesson from Ukraine is that when a country is under threat or forced to fight, its Armed Forces are only as strong as the industry that stands behind it.

This is part of the strength of our national and our NATO deterrence.

Defence Industry

So let me tell you something about the people who work in our defence industries.

The average salary is £57k – that’s ten thousand pounds higher than their equivalents in manufacturing.

 These are good, skilled, unionised jobs.

 And last year I designated the unions part of our Defence Industrial base for the first time, with seats on the Defence Industrial Joint Council.

 Only Labour could bring the workforce into the heart of decision making. 

 And we will continue down this path, harnessing the power of trade unions to help build British skills – restoring ideas like the Union Learning Fund for Defence.

Because let me tell you something else about working in Defence: there is a huge shortage of home-grown talent.

And while we appreciate every welder or programmer who comes from overseas, we are determined to get more British youngsters through the door.

That’s why we’re creating five Defence Technical Excellence Colleges – for young people in Lincoln, Blackpool, Rotherham, Plymouth, and Yeovil.

Why we’ve launched Defence Growth Deals in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

And why we’ve launched a new Defence Universities Alliance for universities that are proud to do research that helps keep our country safe.

These skills aren’t just important in their own right. They’re essential for our security.

Because the things we do in the MOD, the security services and the armed forces are to meet serious threats, like Russia.

The ships and submarines Putin sends to map our undersea cables and pipelines have a deadly serious purpose:

… to cut data and power supplies to British homes and British businesses.

And you know what deters them?

The submarines we build at Barrow, the drones we build in Plymouth, the helicopters we build in Yeovil.

In our factories, our labs, our software studios, our shipyards, and thousands of our small family firms…

… quietly innovating the kit our soldiers, sailors and aircrew need.

It’s all there to say to Vladimir Putin, and the criminal regime in Iran: don’t even think about it.

These industries – and the UK Armed Forces they supply – aren’t just an economic force in their own right.

The security they create underpins business confidence, financial sector sentiment, capital investment, gilt yields and foreign investment into the UK.

The bond market, as Liz Truss found out, cannot be told to obey the government.

Just as fiscal credibility is a bedrock of economic security, so it is for our national security.

Because beyond all the calculations about gilt yields, what counts for investors is sentiment about our country.

They're making judgements about who we are, the maturity of our political system, our ability to rearm while maintaining sound public finances.

Our willingness to make hard choices.

That's why I've been determined to work so closely with the Chancellor, on defence industrial strategy…

… on the biggest uplift to defence spending since the Cold War…

… and now with the Defence Investment Plan – which I promise is coming soon.

Countries that cannot pay their way, cannot defend themselves.

Defence Businesses

 And as Defence Secretary, I’m determined to help grow the next generation of defence businesses…

 Alongside all 31 NATO Allies, our Government signed up to spend 3.5% on defence by 2035.

 MOD estimates this means over half a million Brits will work for a defence firm in a decade’s time.

 Those companies of the 2030s don't start then, they start today.

 That’s why today I can announce that we have awarded 13 contracts to Britain’s next ‘Defence Unicorns’...British tech companies…

 Half of which never worked with defence before.

 Half of which have been set up in the last five years.

 All of which have the potential to become billion-pound FTSE 100 firms.

Government is acting to back British innovators for the next generation of defence jobs…

… and I call on private investors to back them too.

More than half of all AI investment in Europe this year is coming here, to Britain.

And my message to the innovators and entrepreneurs in AI, cyber, automation all the high tech industries of the future is, you are all welcome.

I want Britain to become the best place in the world to start and grow a defence business.

Let me tell you why this matters.

Ernest Bevin was right – people don’t just want a penny on the pound, or an hour off the day.

They want control of their own lives.

Many young people would love to do this and start a business – but they don’t feel able to take the risks.

This is a generation spending half their monthly income on rent and leaving university with a debt pile double their starting salary.

Is it any surprise, then, that while six in ten young people would like to start a business, only one in six does?

The way to sustained growth that funds our public services, is giving that generation the chance to take a risk – to innovate.

And the defence industry can be a standout sector for all of this. Raising wages, productivity and innovation.

That's what defence offers. That’s what Labour can deliver.

Pride, growth and security.

The Labour Party I am proud to represent, is not just a party; it’s a set of values, a 120-year mission, bringing prosperity and progress in peacetime; strength and determination in wartime.

Yes, we need to go further.

Yes, we need to be bolder.

Yes, we need to offer people hope for the future.

That starts with security.

Families across Britain will not feel hope if they don’t feel secure.

Labour’s mission is to advance the working people of this country.

And at the heart of defence – military and industrial – has always been the working class. 

So, like those who came before us, we rearm in the face of threats, we strengthen our alliances. We confront dictators. We build our industry.

And in the process, we can unite our country around a common purpose. 

Security and opportunity. Delivering for defence. Delivering for Britain.