Sheffield Forgemasters submarine investment huge Steel City endorsement - The Yorkshire Post says

After vowing to put the UK into a state of “war-fighting readiness” following the Strategic Defence Review, the Government has now revealed it will invest £420m in Sheffield Forgemasters to build the 12 additional submarines announced last week.

As previously reported, Ministers intend to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product from April 2027 with an ambition, though no solid commitment, for that to rise to three per cent during the next parliament.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was given a tour of the Forgemasters yesterday, praising the business – which will restart manufacturing for artillery gun barrels, the first time they have been produced by the UK in decades – as an excellent example of the country’s “rich heritage in manufacturing and innovation”.

It was always going to be a compelling candidate for the job of helping the country be ready to fight, should the need ever arise, and the Ministry of Defence went so far as to say that the factory was “symbolic of the government’s plan to harness defence as an engine for growth”.

Meanwhile John Healey, Defence Secretary and Labour MP for South Yorkshire’s Rawmarsh and Conisbrough constituency, told The Yorkshire Post: “Forgemasters is a shining example of doing things on site in Sheffield that aren't done anywhere else in the UK, and in some ways not done anywhere else in Europe.”

It is brilliant for the business, which employs 725 skilled staff, that so much faith and money is being invested, but the broader context of global instability is clearly concerning.

The threat to sovereign European nations is already clear to see as the Russia-Ukraine war continues to rage more than three years after the invasion.

Now, Yorkshire is making a huge contribution to deterring potential future attacks on the UK.