Labour Party Conference: What is the party doing for the military?
The Labour Party Conference is coming to an end, with the Prime Minister having given his customary speech to a packed hall of delegates at ACC Liverpool.
Defence Secretary John Healey spoke at the conference, where he said that improving service life starts with better homes.
BFBS Forces News has looked at what Labour has unveiled for the military over the past few days of the conference.
Housing
The Labour government has said that Armed Forces personnel and veterans will be handed 'first dibs' on homes built on surplus Ministry of Defence land.
Mr Healey revealed that up to 100,000 homes could be erected on the land.
He said that poor housing for the military and their families was a cause of the retention crisis.
"I'm not content to see damp, mouldy, poorly fitted homes for our forces in the future," he said.
The Rawmarsh and Conisbrough MP added that Labour would "extend the aspiration of home ownership" to personnel and veterans and ensure that affordable homes are made available to them.
Drone wall
The UK will make a 'drone wall' to defend Nato and Ukraine from Russia after continued incursions by drones and aircraft, Mr Healey said.
The cheap drones, made with the help of Kyiv in British factories, will be created in a scheme called Project Octopus.
They will be mass-produced in the UK, with a target to produce thousands per month to provide to Ukraine to support its ongoing fight for freedom against Putin’s illegal full-scale invasion.
London and Kyiv will own the drones' intellectual property, meaning they could be moved to other Nato countries in the future.
The Defence Secretary also said that the system might be used in the UK to add another layer of defence to military sites and national infrastructure.
The news follows drone and aircraft incursions across Europe in Poland, Romania, Estonia and alleged 'hybrid' sightings of drones in Denmark and Norway.
Army reserves
Mr Healey has called on employers to encourage their employees to join the Army reserves.
The Defence Secretary said that the British public could support national security by joining the reserves and cadets and needed to be "vigilant" to threats like cyber attacks, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.
"There is a big role for employers, who can do more to give those leaving the forces employment opportunities," he said.
"But, they can do more to make sure that those who are in their workforce can also play a part for the nation as reservists."
The call for more reservists comes after the Strategic Defence Review said that the number of reservists needs to be boosted by 20%.
The defence industry
With conflict bubbling around the world, the Labour Party conference has changed its tone from being very interested in international development and aid in the past under former prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to being a comfortable environment for the defence industry.
The defence industry is in a much more confident position with the Labour Party after Sir Keir's party said that it will increase defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by April 2027.
"Certainly, the message we get [from the government] is that defence is really at the heart of what they're doing, and it's probably at the front of the queue in terms of leading growth," Andrew Kinniburgh, the director general of manufacturers' body Make UK, said.
The Labour Party, altering its stance on defence in a chameleon-like fashion, has surprised members of the defence industry, according to Politico.
Despite the morphing of the party into a defence-centred political party taking a long time, the party wants to keep the image of being behind the defence industry.
"It's been a long road to convince people we're as strong on defence as we are on other international issues," one official told Politico.
"We need to guard that now."
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