The financial strength of Gulf allies such as the United Arab Emirates could potentially be drawn on to help fund the UK’s long-delayed Defence Investment Plan, a peer has suggested in the House of Lords, the UK Defence Journal understands.
The suggestion came from the crossbench peer Lord Houghton of Richmond, a former Chief of the Defence Staff, during an oral question on the UK’s military presence in the Gulf, answered by the Minister of State for Defence, Lord Coaker, on 4 June 2026.
Lord Houghton argued that, for all the talk of more money arriving, affordability remained the fundamental constraint on British military capability. “Is it not now a fundamental fact that the biggest constraint on both the generation and deployment of British capability is affordability?” he said. He contrasted the two countries’ positions, pointing to December 2024 figures that he said showed the UK running a 40 billion dollar deficit and the UAE an 80 billion dollar surplus, and asked whether there “might not there be scope for some agreement whereby the generosity of the UAE might help get the defence investment plan over the line this side of the Summer Recess”.
Lord Coaker did not endorse the idea but did not dismiss it either, calling it worth considering. “The noble and gallant Lord makes an interesting point,” he said, noting that a number of peers had raised ideas about how money could be raised for defence. He said the government spent a lot of time talking to friends and partners in the Middle East about how best to support them and provide the capabilities they needed to protect themselves, in this instance from what he described as the indiscriminate response from Iran.
On the plan itself, the minister was firm about the timetable. “The Government are determined to ensure that the defence investment plan is published before 7 July and the Ankara summit,” he said, repeating a commitment the Defence Secretary had given in the House of Commons.
No need to beg from the Arabs. Just cut the welfare bill from scroungers and illegals. And get rid of the quasi Marxists while we are at it.
Agreed. And add the majority of the foreign aid budget to that and you can easily fund DIP. This is why left wing parties find funding for defence so difficult, because their own voter base will prioritise a bloated welfare state.
Agreed!
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You do know that the foreign aid budget is now £6.8 billion per year
And I would reduce it to £1bn. So £5.8bn per year to go towards DIP. Or around 50 Type 26’s over 10 years with cash left over (for illustrative purposes, obviously that wouldn’t happen).
Spot on, to most normal people this is an excellent starting point, however to the fascist left is tantamount to setting kittens on fire while wrapped in a Palestine flag!!!!!
Just how do you define someone as a scrounger ?
The welfare bill contains vasts amounts of people in work, I wonder why this fact gets ignored in discourse. Slow growth and a weak working and middle class directly negatively impacts military spending – it’s an annoying reality I guess
This has to be the stupidest suggestion I have ever come across, how do theses people get peerages.
What does the UAE UK trade deficit relationship have to do with defence spending?
The UK is not short on the ability to borrow or does he expect the UAE to give money to the UK?, like we are a f**king empire of something 🤦♂️ why would we want to borrow particularly from the UAE instead of international capital markets and why would the UAE want to lend us money unless it was at internationally competitive rates.
The UAE is probably the least friendly gulf state to the UK and incase Lord Houghton hadn’t noticed the UAE is currently brassed and desperately opening up swap line with the USA to generate cash.
If the UK restores investment restrictions on pension accounts like most countries do it has a vast vast amount of capital it can’t access for borrowing. The UK is the largest foreign investor in the USA and 2nd largest foreign holder of US debt.
However just because the UK can borrow doesn’t not mean it should.
I agree. I nation of Britain’s economic size, relying on donations to fund it’s defence???
Shameful.
Jim,
“…vast amount of capital it can’t access for borrowing”? Pardon, stated correctly?? 🤔
I’m glad you addressed the ridiculousness of the points being made by the Peer, I had to read it a few times to fully believe the comments were actually made.
It’s a good job they got rid of Hereditary Peers, Lords is clearly a far more sensible place now as these comments show.
Sadly it really shows how desperate the approach to defence is getting when we get this instead of addressing the real issues.
Jim’s comment is totally misinformed and false:
The UK’s borrowing capabilities are severally diminished as reflected in the current bond yields and the regular warnings of potential IMF intervention.
The UAE is not the least friendly Gulf State and it does not have a cash shortage. The UAE swap transactions are for hedging purposes to protect their currency which is tied to the US$. The UAE has significant existing investments in the UK
There are strong historic links between the UAE and the UK respective militaries. The UAE army was founded by Tug Wilson a former colonel in the British Army.
Lord Hougton’s proposal has merit.
In fact the present Emir’s father suggested just such an arrangement some years ago now to dissuade Britain from withdrawal from ‘East of Suez’.
Our relationship with the UAE has been so badly handled over the intervening years that I doubt it would be offered today…but Britain should get off its high horse and treat its allies in that region as brothers.
Oman is still a good and trusted friend. Their advice on this matter would be worth listening to.
In other news there are reports that the deal with Uruguay for the 3 batch 1 Rivers is close to completion. They go out of service in 2028. Better get cracking with the T31s.
Great. 3 more Hulls gone.
👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏
Maybe theyll use the Kraken to escort ships?
HMS Middleton is back on patrol in UK waters and HMS Bangor is going into refit, I think. Getting the reserve team OPVs ready?😳
Maybe they can now add three more T31s for their replacements?
That would be a good outcome for the RN and for Babcock.
T31 ??? Would you Send them into a Conflict Area with their ASW Capabilites..??
Hahhaha!
The UAE have their EDGE group cooperating with many other defence contractors worldwide like BAE and Thales, this is strictly private business, why should governments need to get involved in this pathetic idea?
Bahrain (a far from rich Gulf state), dipped in to its own pockets to build a naval base for free for the UK about ten years ago, with the sole condition that one RN frigate or destroyer was based there. How many warships do we now have there? ZERO. How many do we plan to base there in the future? ZERO. With an example like that, no wonder Gulf States prefer to make defence deals with France, Italy, Netherlands, Germany …
Thanks to accelerated British disarmament since 1990, the United Kingdom is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the world defense; there are hardly any naval escorts or tanks, and the RAF is increasingly reduced, so it is logical that the Persian Gulf countries prefer military agreements with France, the Netherlands, or Italy rather than with Great Britain.
The FOREIGN OFFICE Ironically after Pushing SOFT POWER through INTERNATIONAL AID for Many Years !..
Now finds itself With No HARD POWER to Speak of to fall back on …!
Our Total Withdrawal from Not only East of Suez but Effectively East of Gibraltar has Handicapped us Massively on the INTERNATIONAL STAGE with a FOREIGN SECRETARY And PM Looking Rather lost on the World Stage…!
Push for f-35A Nuks Doesn’t Really Cut it With Middle Eastern Goverments..
HMS DRAGON Debacle Rather tells the Whole Story…!
Ludicrous suggestion, bizarre even.
I would be surprised UAE would invest considering they won’t even sponsor students to come to the UK.
Just in case anyone form the UAE is reading this thread, I have a very useful investment idea for you.
Cambridge Aerospace has been directed to attend to the lower speed threats. But money from you could
allow them or someone like them to address IRBMs.
Here is the specification: A ‘hittile’ comprised of a two-stage rocket using a passive infrared sensor, travelling at around Mach 6.
The window in the nosecone can be made using a relatively cheap process, either Polycrystalline Alumina or
Chemical Vapour Deposition. The nose-cone thrusters for terminal steering in the upper atmosphere could
be done by BAE Systems. They have dealt with fluidic and pneumatic control systems for UAVs.
Cambridge Aerospace could be the prime contractor. The rocket casing would have to be a new design.
The estimated cost per unit is under £2 million, significantly less than the IRBM it destroys.
This interceptor would take up a whole tube in a type 26, so it wouldn’t provide much magazine depth,
in relation to the thousands of ballistic missiles Iran has. However, for land-based deployment in a Gulf state
it would be a formidable defence that wins the economic war of attrition.
I must confess that this specification was arrived at with the help of Gemini. But Gemini is rather good at mathematics
and physics and has read a good deal about arms and munitions.
I should add that the processor for the sensor’s data is cheap as chips, like the ones in a smart phone for visual processing.
No exquisitely expensive seeker that will prove a dud if the merest speck of dust got in it and that
had to be made in a clean room that took a year to build and certify.
The final adjustments in flight are AI/machine learning controlled. The fact that it doesn’t ping the incoming
missile means the latter doesn’t know to evade, which makes interception simpler and more certain.
The means of adjustment in the terminal phase can be optimised using Fluidic Thrust Vectoring or high-pressure
cold-gas systems as are already in operation in commercial satellites and drones. By using 3D-printed internal manifolds to
route hot or cold gases without complex moving mechanical valves, the entire nose-cone control assembly becomes a single,
solid-state component. This removes expensive moving parts, dramatically simplifying production.
Likewise, the two-stage rocket eliminates multiple explosive staging rings, sequencing computers and ignition sensors, greatly
reducing assembly costs and increasing reliability. The first stage is large and high-thrust to quickly clear the thick atmosphere,
the second is the high-velocity kinetic ‘hittile’.
All of this enables fast, high volume production. Compare and contrast with the current Eurosam route. Even when ready, it
will only surge to 300 or so interceptors a year, at great cost.
@ Craig Langford
Could you please forward this to the peer concerned, and if possible to a relevant party in the UAE?
Yours, Palmerston (sending a gunboat, saving the world).
I guess a Govt of handouts looking for a handout makes sense.
I recoiled from my screen reading that question… Good grief, we spend £300 Billion on Welfare, suspend the Triple Lock for 1 year and you’ve got £17 Billion to spend then, that’s huge. Make further cuts to Welfare, no free cars or insurance or fuel, no PIP for anxiety, nope.
You’ll Billions roll in and that can fund Defence, we can grow the industrial base, maintain local skills, grow capacity to ship overseas and not be overcome by more shite.
You have a Labour Goverment in Power …!
They Live for WELFARE…!
As Pat McFadden Said….Only intrest of Labour MPs is to find NEW TAXES ! To Spend On WELFARE..!
The fact its Unsustainable is Irrelevant…!
Little Wonder Unemployment and Paticularly Youth Unemployment keeps Riseing…!
They’ve just been kicked out of WALES…!!
Barely find Anyone with a good Word for them..!
Defence is A luxury to them Supplied by the Americans..!!
This isn’t just “a peer”, this is a former Chief of the Defence Staff. There are several comments on here disparaging the Lords without any acknowledgment that a decade ago Nick Houghton was the most senior person in our country’s armed forces and is an honorary Field Marshal. This man should know what he’s talking about, and I still find his suggestion bizarre.
Our country needs a sovereign armed forces, which means the country has to pay for it. Not another country. Not a public private partnership.
“Is it not now a fundamental fact that the biggest constraint on both the generation and deployment of British capability is affordability?” he asks. No, Lord Houghton. It is not a fundamental fact that we can’t afford it. The Chancellor’s fiscal rules are far from fundamental. They are ideological baggage that ensures the country will remain underinvested as long as this Chancellor remains in post.