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 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.

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

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com