UK: Overseas Defence Contractors Must Invest Back Up to Full Contract Value Under New Offsets Policy
The UK government published a new defence Offsets policy on October 30: overseas companies that win significant UK defence contracts will be required to invest benefits back into Britain up to the same value as the contract, through new jobs and apprenticeships, opening factories, investing in domestic suppliers and transferring technology.
Contracts worth over £50 million will be considered for offsets: a £100 million contract could see new jobs, facilities or skills training up to the same £100 million value in the UK. The policy will apply to a select number of procurements from April 2027, overseen by a new central Offset Authority.
Chancellor John Healey and Defence Secretary Wes Streeting announced the policy on a visit to BAE Systems at Scotstoun, Glasgow. Healey said that when a big contract goes overseas, the changes will ensure 100 percent of the value creates new opportunities for workers and businesses at home.
The government said Britain has set a target of spending 3 percent of GDP on defence in 2030, on the path to the NATO commitment of 3.5 percent in 2035, and that defence investment supported 274,000 jobs in UK industry last year. Since 2016, over £35.2 billion has been spent on defence contracts and services with industry overseas, 11 percent of total Ministry of Defence direct expenditure with industry in that period.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：英国航母上层建筑部件运抵苏格兰罗塞斯造船厂，英国国防部（LA(Phot) M.Hogan 摄），开放政府许可（OGL v1.0）/ Photo: carrier superstructure arriving at Rosyth, Scotland, UK Ministry of Defence, Open Government Licence v1.0
