National Security Strategy sets out new government spending commitments
On Tuesday 24 June, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden announced the publication of the government’s National Security Strategy 2025 (NSS 2025) in a Ministerial Statement. The NSS 2025 is designed to last for the duration of the current parliament and brings together various strands of work relating to national security that have been underway since the 2024 general election. This includes the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), Strategic Security Review, AUKUS Review, Resilience Strategy, China Audit, the Industrial and Trade Strategies and work on supply chains, intelligence assessment, development assistance, soft power, artificial intelligence (AI) and technological advantage.
UK agrees new spending commitment on National Security
The NSS 2025 confirms that the UK will meet the pledge agreed at this week’s NATO Summit to spend 5% of GDP on National Security by 2035, with a projected split of 3.5% (core defence) and 1.5% (resilience and security) and an expectation for national security spending to reach to reach at least 4.1% of GDP in 2027. However, NSS 2025 does not detail how the UK will fund the extra £40bn required to hit the new spending commitment by 2035 and it is also currently unclear what exactly will be classified as resilience and security spending to get to 4.1% of GDP by 2027.
A new Strategic Framework to address the UK’s National Security challenges
NSS 2025 sets out a new Strategic Framework to address the UK’s current and future national security challenges, covering all aspects of national security and international policy. This includes 3 mutually reinforcing components:
Pillar 1: Security at Home, including:
Building resilience to future threats
Making the UK a harder target
Defending the UK’s territory
Pillar 2: Strength Abroad, including:
Bolstering collective security
Renewing and deepening alliances
Developing new relationships in new domains
Pillar 3: Sovereign Capabilities, including:
Rebuilding the UK’s defence industrial base
Identifying, nurturing and protecting other sovereign capabilities
Pursuing asymmetric advantage
How do the commitments in the NSS 2025 Strategic Framework relate to the tech sector?
NSS 2025 sets out a series of commitments against each of the areas within the 3 Pillars of the Strategic Framework, spanning Defence, Policing, UK Intelligence, and Cyber Resilience. Taken together, these commitments reflect a shift in the Government’s approach, aligning its national security objectives with its plans for economic growth by harnessing the UK’s productive, industrial, technological and scientific strengths.
Of specific note, the Strategic Framework commits the Government to identifying nurturing and protecting sovereign areas of strength in the UK’s industrial, scientific and technological base, with the explicit goals of improving its knowledge and research base, enhancing economic security, achieving breakthroughs or leads in key sectors, boosting the economy and enhancing its leverage within a broader international ecosystem. This includes building the UK national security agenda for artificial intelligence (AI) and other frontier technologies around three pillars: creating more national capacity (including data, research, investment, talent and regulation); accelerating adoption in key sectors; and advancing understanding of the national security risks.
The Strategic Framework also contains several specific key references to the importance of technology in meeting the ambitions set out in NSS 2025. These include:
Driving innovation in the UK’s frontier industries and investing in technologies that will underpin its future economic and military competitiveness
Rethinking the government’s relationship to private capital in specific technology areas and establishing partnerships with both investors and industry to channel and align private capital and fund the delivery of strategic priorities
Understanding that achieving complete sovereign independence will not always be possible when it comes to frontier technologies like AI and quantum computing. The UK’s approach will be to develop a baseline level of sovereign capability and, beyond that, to strengthen the UK’s asymmetric position within a broader international ecosystem
Continuing to develop the UK’s approach to AI through the UK’s Sovereign AI Unit and by expanding its sovereign compute capacity by at least 20 times by 2030
Maintaining and developing areas in which the UK has genuine world leading credentials to ensure it is a serious player in multiple layers of the critical technologies utilised in frontier applications of AI
Recognising that elevating technology to the top of the UK’s international agenda will mean that certain technologies will need to be accessed via reciprocal agreements and partnerships with its allies. This means the UK must grow complementary capabilities and facilitate joint AI research in areas of shared interest with its international partners
Maximising the UK’s value to allies by developing a national security agenda based around growth, specifically focusing on AI technologies and their adoption in key sectors, whilst continuing to develop an advanced understanding of the associated security risk of AI adoption. This includes reiterating previous commitments to:
Create AI Growth Zones
Building national capability including data, research, talent and regulation
Unlocking investment in AI and support infrastructure by improving access to power and planning assistance
Confirming that the UKAEA Culham Campus will host a 100 MW data centre with ambition to grow to 500 MW
Accelerating AI adoption in key sectors
Accelerating adoption across private and public sectors as well as in our defence and security capabilities
Supporting the growth of a third-party AI assurance market in the UK
An AI Adoption Fund to facilitate the development of cutting-edge AI solutions in high-growth sectors
Advancing understanding of security risks
Building trust, ensure safe adoption, manage economic disruption and unlock opportunities
Maintaining the AI Security Institute, ensuring it continues to attract and retain talent
Advancing the NCSC’s leadership and deep expertise on AI in the cyber security to support the development of a secure AO ecosystem in the UK
Confirming that the UK will continue to play a leading role in developing technologies for the next generation of telecoms and will explore novel applications for advanced materials
Confirming the roll out the next phase of the National Quantum Technologies Programme, building on the £121m investment committed for 2025-26. This will include working through the National Quantum Computing Centre to accelerate the development of quantum computers and through the quantum research hubs to develop applications in areas like medical diagnostics and next-generation navigation
Developing the UK’s position in the global semiconductor sector, strengthening research and niche capabilities in areas such as chip design, power electronics, photonics, radio frequency, and advanced packaging
Next steps for techUK and our National Security programme
As the government works through the various commitments detailed in NSS 2025 and other associated HMG strategies, techUK stands ready to work closely across Government to ensure the technology and digital industries support their implementation through our member-led National Security Committee, Cyber Resilience Committee and Defence Board.
Responding to the publication of the National Security Strategy 2025, Matt Horne, Chair of techUK’s National Security Committee said:
“We welcome the National Security Strategy’s clear recognition of the role technology and industry must play in building resilience. The techUK National Security Committee looks forward to engaging closely with government to help deliver on this ambition.”
To find out more about the work of techUK’s National Security programme, please click here.
