The government have identified 13 new sites that could be home to one of the landmark new munitions and energetics factories, the first to be built in Britain for two decades.
The Defence Secretary confirmed that he expects industry to break ground on the first factory next year, creating at least 1,000 new jobs.
These new factories are backed by £1.5BN of new defence investment this Parliament for munitions and high-volume energetic material.
It comes on the back of the biggest defence uplift since the Cold War, which is delivering and supporting jobs. In just 15 months of government, over 1,000 major defence contracts have been signed, of which 86 per cent are with British-based businesses.
The highly skilled jobs created in these factories of the future will include engineers, electricians, machinists, construction workers, and fitters.
Defence support supports over 460,000 jobs in the UK, including over 24,000 Ministry of Defence apprenticeships and £28.8 billion spent with UK-based business. 70% of defence jobs are outside the Southeast England and Labour is committed to ensuring that the defence dividend is felt in every part of the UK.
Defence Secretary John Healey MP said:
“For too long our proud industrial heartlands saw jobs go away and not come back.
“This Labour government rejects that failed approach of the past.
“We are unambiguously backing British jobs and British skills. It’s the only path that delivers national and economic security.
“Our record defence investment will be measured in good, unionised jobs, thriving businesses, new skills for the British people.”
Defence investment in Yorkshire and Humber increased by £225m on the previous year, equivalent to a rise of 30% in real terms.
Locally, at Sheffield Forgemaster’s, public ownership and rising investment means it is becoming central to our nuclear submarine supply chain and in Rotherham, they are building our British-made Boxer Armoured Vehicle.