Lib Dems: Govt must buy British jets and cut our reliance on Trump

Lib Dems: Govt must buy British jets and cut our reliance on Trump

The Liberal Democrats have today called on the Government to cancel its £1 billion “Trump-appeasement purchase” for US F-35As and use the money saved to order 12 new British-made Typhoon jets.

The call comes exactly a year after the publication of the Strategic Defence Review and the Government’s commitment to purchase the US jets, during which time Donald Trump has repeatedly undermined global security.

From threatening key NATO allies, including the UK, to launching an illegal war in Iran, Trump’s actions have proven his unreliability as an ally, and cast doubt on the White House's commitment to transatlantic collective defence.

The Liberal Democrats are therefore urging the Government to cancel its order and purchase British-built Typhoons instead. The UK manufactures over double the amount of parts for the Eurofighter programme than for American F-35s.  

The party argues that switching to Typhoons would secure British skills and jobs, provide the UK with a genuinely sovereign military capability, and save the taxpayer up to £516 million - money that could be reinvested directly back into boosting defence spending.

Keir Starmer justified the decision to buy the F-35A fighter jets on the basis that they would be able to carry tactical nuclear weapons, before it was subsequently confirmed that he would need to seek the US President's approval before using them.

Liberal Democrat Defence Spokesperson James MacCleary MP said:

“Donald Trump is taking a sledgehammer to global security, insulting Britain and tearing up the rules-based international order. Yet, rather than building the UK’s strategic independence from an unreliable White House, Keir Starmer has remained wedded to his eye-watering Trump-appeasement order of US jets.

“This was a staggeringly short-sighted decision by the Prime Minister at the time - and has only been vindicated by Trump’s increasingly erratic and illegal foreign policy behaviour. Even if the Prime Minister thought it was right to be expanding the UK's nuclear arsenal in this way, giving total control over the use of this capability to Donald Trump is strategically illiterate.

“We cannot be increasing our reliance on US technology at a time when the President is tearing up the rules-based order and threatening our allies. Ministers need to wake up to reality, cancel this misguided F-35A order, and buy British instead. By investing in Typhoons, we can support our own high-skilled industrial base, secure a genuinely sovereign military capability, and save over £500 million to reinvest elsewhere in our overstretched armed forces. The Government should put British security and British jobs first."

ENDS