Reeves tells universities: Let defence firms recruit your students
The Chancellor told The Telegraph there should be 'no barriers' to young people taking jobs in the sector as the world gets more dangerous and uncertain.
The intervention was triggered by concerns that Left-wing student unions protesting the presence of defence firms at careers events was discouraging attendance.
Ms Reeves told The Telegraph: 'A strong national defence can build a strong economy too. By backing Britain's defence industry, we can create new jobs, opportunities, and investments in our industrial heartlands.
'We can give the next generation the chance to work in high-skilled, well-paid part of the economy.
'But those opportunities can only be seized if we make them available to everyone. That's why it's right that companies should be allowed to attend university career events or recruitment fairs.
'There should be no barriers to young people having the chance to decide on their own futures or crucial part of the British economy being shut out of hiring the best and the brightest.'
The Telegraph has been told of incidents when defence companies have cancelled sending employees to jobs fairs due to fears they will be barracked by vocal critics.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and concerns about the growing influence of China have contributed to Western nations, including the UK, markedly increasing defence spending.
The Government has for months been taking steps to counter long-standing negative portrayals of the defence sector, talking up its importance to UK national security.
Student protests create hostile environment
Business leaders whose firms make military equipment have personally complained to the Chancellor that they were effectively barred from some university careers fairs.
There is no ban by the university sector or individual universities on defence companies sending representatives to events where students look for future jobs.
However, often a hostile environment is created by student protesters, according to multiple well-placed figures in the defence sector and the Government.
It means executives are sometimes taking the decision not to attend certain careers fairs, fearing it would be an unpleasant experience for those employees – often recent graduates themselves – who are sent in.
A source at one defence company described how they took that decision after learning of a planned protest where the firm would be accused of being 'dealers of death'.
The source said: 'We have had instances where student groups on campuses have taken the fact we are there as a problem. We have seen some pretty unpleasant campaigns with those groups to try to agitate within student unions.'
Defence firms have anecdotal evidence that confrontational protests have become more common since Hamas's Oct 7 attack on Israel, after which there has been heightened scrutiny of connections between the British defence industry and Israel.
It comes amid pro-Palestine protests on campuses across the country in the wake of Oct 7 and Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is also aware of the issue of defence companies feeling they cannot attend some university careers events and is monitoring it.
The concerns have emerged at a time when the UK is set to need even more home-grown engineers and scientists for the defence sector as government spending in that space soars.
The Chancellor, who an ally said had been a consistent champion behind the scenes of Britain's defence companies, recently signed off a marked increase in defence spending.
The UK's defence spending will rise from around 2.3 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent GDP by 2027 – or to 2.6 per cent when money for the intelligence agencies is included for the first time.
There is also a looser ambition to hit 3 per cent by the early 2030s, as well as a new Nato target to reach 3.5 per cent on core defence spending by 2035.
Labour has already pressed financial institutions to change their definition of environmental, social and governance to make sure that defence companies are not being locked out of potential funding.
There was a 9 per cent drop in investment in defence companies from UK funds between the start of 2022 and late 2023, according to London Stock Exchange data.
Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, met senior figures at defence firms and banks last December to press his concerns about barriers to investment in the sector.
Meanwhile, Labour has also taken steps to protect free speech on university campuses since entering office last summer, retaining proposed Tory legislation in that space after initially signalling it would be dropped.
Ms Reeves said: 'The world is changing and we can see that before our eyes. It is becoming more dangerous, more insecure and more uncertain.
'But the job of the Government is not simply to step back and watch that change happen, but to take action to keep our country safe.
'That is why we have announced the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War and an ambition to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence in the next parliament.'
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
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Announcing plans for a protest, the Stop Trump Coalition alliance said: 'We are meeting Trump with protests in Aberdeen and Edinburgh this month, and then in London and Windsor in September. 'JD Vance is every bit as unwelcome in the UK as Donald Trump. We remember how Vance cut short his ski trip in Vermont because he was so enraged by the sight of a few protesters. 'We are sure that, even in the Cotswolds, he will find the resistance waiting.' Mr Vance has continued commenting on politics during his time in the UK, and said yesterday that the US was working to 'schedule' a meeting between Mr Trump and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts. European leaders are frustrated at the decision to exclude President Zelensky from the upcoming US-Russia summit and fear it could lead to an agreement that is harmful to Ukrainian interests. 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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Trump says both sides in Ukraine war will need to cede territory
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