At the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Kemi Badenoch announced the "Britannia Shield," a proposed air defense system costing around £1 billion annually over ten years, aimed at protecting the UK and its territories from missile and drone threats. The Tories claim this initiative would counter modern warfare challenges and strengthen national security, contrasting their pledge to allocate 3% of GDP for defense by 2030 with Labour's current lack of a specific deadline for similar spending commitments.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
The so-called “Britannia Shield” would provide a network of radar, command and control systems to detect incoming threats along with interceptor missiles and counter-drone capabilities, the Conservatives said.
asserted
Conservatives → call → missiles
Announcing the pledge on the third day of the party’s annual conference in Birmingham, Kemi Badenoch accused Labour of failing to keep the country safe and said the system would protect both the whole of the UK, its sovereign territories and British bases overseas.
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system → announce → UK
The Tory leader said: “The world will not wait for Britain to get ready.
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Britain → say → ?
War has returned to Europe.
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War → return → Europe
Missiles and drones are transforming warfare in the Middle East.
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Missiles → transform → East
“Cheap weapons can now threaten cities, military bases and critical infrastructure in ways that would have sounded like science fiction a generation ago.”
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that → threaten → fiction
She added: “The threat is here.
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threat → add → ?
And Britannia Shield will help make sure we are.”
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we → help → ?
The Conservatives have sought to sharpen political battle lines with the Labour Government over its defence policy after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said national security could not come “at the expense of social security”.
uncertain
security → seek → security
Mrs Badenoch has pledged to spend 3% of gross domestic product on defence by 2030 – a target for which Mr Burnham is yet to set out his own deadline – which the Tories say would provide an additional £10 billion a year.
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Tories → pledge → billion
The Conservatives say measures such as reinstating the two-child benefit cap and reforming housing benefit would help fund the plans.
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measures → say → plans
Party officials said the air defence system announced on Tuesday and described as “in essence, a British iron dome” would account for around £1 billion annually over 10 years as part of this pre-existing funding promise.
In response, Labour pointed to the Conservatives’ record in office and said they should “never be given responsibility” over national security again.
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they → say → security
Real-terms defence spending fluctuated under successive Tory governments between 2010 and 2024, falling by around 22% by 2016/17, after which it steadily rose and recently returned to 2010 levels.
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it → fluctuate → levels
Mrs Badenoch said: “Families can make their own choices.
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Families → say → choices
Businesses can build and innovate.
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Businesses → build → ?
But only government can defend the country.
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government → defend → country
“Yet Labour still will not commit the money Britain needs for defence.
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Britain → commit → defence
They keep pouring billions into a broken welfare system while leaving our security underfunded.
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They → keep → security
When forced to choose, they pick social security over national security.
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they → force → security
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge, who will deliver a speech to the Tory conference on Tuesday, said the system would deliver “the most significant upgrade to UK air defence for generations”.
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system → deliver → generations
He said the investment was “totally necessary because of the threats we face” and “only possible because of our willingness to take the tough decisions to fund defence”.
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we → say → defence
The Labour Government has pledged to reach defence spending of 3.5% GDP by 2035, with a target for 3% funding to be set out in the spending review.
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target → pledge → review
Plans set out in the defence investment plan (Dip) will see spending rise to 2.7% of GDP by 2027/28, but there are no firm details on how further increases will be achieved beyond that date.
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increases → set → date
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Trusting the Tories to invest in Britain’s defences would wave a huge white flag to our enemies.
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Trusting → say → enemies
“Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives hollowed out our armed forces, leaving our army at the smallest size since the Napoleonic era.
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Conservatives → hollow → era
Their dismal record in government speaks for itself and they should never be given responsibility for keeping our country safe again.
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they → speak → country
“Andy Burnham’s Labour Government is delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, including £1 billion investment in air defences.
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Government → deliver → defences
“Keeping Britain safe is the first priority of this government, and through our strategic investment in our defence industries and our unshakeable commitment to Nato and our allies, we are delivering on that promise.
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we → keep → promise
“The Government is firmly committed to investing 3.5% of our GDP on defence by 2035 – investment that will keep our country safe and help to deliver a new era of industrialisation, backing British by buying British wherever our industry can deliver.”
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industry → commit → British
The Liberal Democrats said the pledge showed the Conservatives were “once again” indulging in “Truss-style fantasy economics”.
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Conservatives → say → economics
The party’s defence spokesman James MacCleary said: “£10 billion would not even touch the sides for a complete UK-wide ‘iron dome’.
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billion → say → dome
They either need to review their dodgy sums or come clean about which parts of the country their patchwork dome wouldn’t cover.
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dome → need → country
“Let’s not forget this is the party that hollowed out our armed forces for a decade, and whose disgraceful plan to fill the defence-spending black hole is based on targeted cuts to the poorest and most vulnerable children.
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plan → let → children
You do not make Britain safer by pushing families into poverty.”
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Britain → make → poverty
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