17/08/2026
Can Britain rearm — quickly, securely, and at scale?
This month it emerged that Chinese-made camera components in Royal Navy drones had been quietly transmitting data to an IP address in China.
Britain needs to rearm without depending on the same rivals it is rearming against — and that means being able to build more of our own defence equipment, faster and more affordably.
The ASI’s proposal would create new Defence Enterprise Zones in the North East, combining fast-tracked planning, cheap publicly owned land, lower taxes on investment and cheaper power to help get new factories built.
And there is public support: 69% of voters say they would back a defence employer opening near them.
Cut the barriers. Build the factories. Strengthen Britain’s industrial base.
Read Wear 2, Now? by Mitchell Palmer and James Hodgkinson👇
https://www.adamsmith.org/research/wear-2-now
Sir Desmond Swayne MP, Member of Parliament for New Forest West, said:
„For too long, Britain has allowed its sclerotic planning system and sky-high energy costs to stand between us and our own security. We cannot credibly discuss rearmament while the factories that would build our defences are strangled by red tape before a single brick is laid.“
„A fast-tracked defence enterprise zone is exactly the kind of decisive action an increasingly unstable world demands. It would let us build the industrial base this country needs to defend itself, and it would create real, productive jobs for British workers, rather than shipping that capacity and those livelihoods overseas.“
„Our national security and the prosperity of British workers are not competing priorities. They are one and the same. It is time to stop dithering and get Britain building again.“
Kyle Genner, Reform UK Durham County Council Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, Environment and Police Relations, said:
“The United Kingdom has been in industrial decline for decades, and nowhere has this been more harshly felt than in County Durham. Our landmark motion to reindustrialise County Durham was the first step in reversing that decline, but it’s now time to shift from the ‘what’ to the ‘how’.”
“Any proposal to bring jobs to County Dur
