In his Portakabin at the BAE Systems factory in Warton, union rep Steve McGuinness is weighing up the challenges facing the UK’s defence industry when, abruptly, he has to stop talking. A jet is taking off from the Lancashire site’s airfield and the noise is so loud that it’s impossible to hear him for a few seconds.
When McGuinness begins speaking again, the experienced engineer – who served as a mechanical fitter on Tornado, Hawk and Typhoon aircraft before taking on his role with Unite – explains why Andy Burnham must stay true to his word about investing in British arms manufacturing if and when he becomes Prime Minister.
Burnham, who is expected to succeed Sir Keir Starmer later this month, said this week that with the global political situation “darkening”, the UK needs to invest more in the armed forces. He pledged to “back British workers and businesses” with this spending, “to generate economic growth and create apprenticeships and jobs in communities that have seen opportunities drain away”.
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Bayeux Tapestry returns to the UK for first time in almost 1,000 years
The 70-metre long embroidery was escorted through Kent in the dead of night before arriving at the British Museum.
Caption: Nicholas Cullinan, director of the British Museum, waits for the truck (behind) carrying the Bayeux Tapestry to be unloaded at the museum in central London early on July 10, 2026, as the 11th-century artwork depicting the 1066 Norman conquest of England arrives ahead its first UK exhibition from September. The medieval Bayeux Tapestry arrived in London in the early hours of July 10, after a hugely complicated journey to leave France for the first time in more than 900 years for an exhibition in the British capital. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: RICHARD A. BROOKS
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What you need to know
The most extraordinary surviving work of art in European history, created in 11th-century Canterbury, was lowered back onto British soil at around 2.48am on Friday.
Caption: Workers unload a specially designed crate carrying the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum in central London early on July 10, 2026, as the 11th-century artwork depicting the 1066 Norman conquest of England arrives ahead its first UK exhibition from September. The medieval Bayeux Tapestry arrived in London in the early hours of July 10, after a hugely complicated journey to leave France for the first time in more than 900 years for an exhibition in the British capital. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: RICHARD A. BROOKS
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Caption: FILE – This photo taken Sept. 18, 2019 shows the 11th century Bayeux tapestry chronicling the Norman conquest of England, in Bayeux, Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, File)
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Around 7.5 million people are expected to see the tapestry in London when it goes on show from September to July 2027. At least £2.4m worth of ticket sales were generated within 24 hours.
A closer look at the detail
The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the 1066 Norman invasion and Battle of Hastings, which saw William the Conqueror take the English throne from King Harold and become the first Norman king of England.
The British Museum has said demand to see the “once-in-a-generation exhibition has already been unprecedented”.
Over the coming weeks the tapestry will undergo condition checks before being carefully installed within a custom showcase ahead of the exhibition opening.
It has been on display at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Bayeux in Normandy since 1983 and will return there when the museum reopens after renovation.
It was created around 960 years ago, likely in Canterbury, and this is the first time it is back on British soil since.
The story in pictures
Caption: Workers unload a box that contains the Bayeux Tapestry out of a truck at the British Museum in London, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kwiyeon Ha)
Photographer: Kwiyeon Ha
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Caption: A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the Norman Invasion of 1066. King Harold II (c.1022 – 1066) is killed at the Battle of Hastings. The tapestry is housed in the town of Bayeux in Normandy. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Photographer: Hulton Archive
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The Bayeux Tapestry which relates Britain’s conquest by William the Conqueror (Guillaume le Conquerant) in 1066 (Photo: LOIC VENANCE / AFP)
A major diplomatic statement
Make no mistake – this is an historic moment and a significant act of friendship
Those were the words of Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who echoed French President Emmanuel Macron’s claim in The Times the exhibition reflected a “shared desire to see France and the United Kingdom build their future together”.
(Image: Wikimedia Commons/Myrabella)
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Weight-loss jab users told to do strength training
People taking weight-loss jabs should still do physical exercise including strength training to avoid muscle wastage, England’s chief medical officer has said.
What you need to know
In an article for The i Paper, Professor Sir Chris Whitty said those taking the GLP-1 medication should focus on activities that build strength as their weight decreases.
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File photo dated 16/10/24 of Semaglutide (GLP-1) weight-loss drug Wegovy. Ads for an online pharmacy have been banned for promoting prescription-only weight-loss medication to the public and exploiting new mothers’ insecurities about body image. The Instagram and Facebook ads for Juniper also created an undue sense of urgency for those considering medicated weight-loss programmes while posts in weight-loss support groups on Facebook did not make clear that they were paid for by the advertiser, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found. Issue date: Wednesday April 8, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: James Manning/PA Wire
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He said that all adults, whether or not they are taking GLP-1 drugs, can benefit from even short bursts of physical activity for a few minutes per day to keep fit.
A closer look at the detail
In addition to this general improvement in health, it is important to do things which maintain strength and balance.
Whitty said building strength alongside losing weight with drugs was crucial to being healthy as you get older.
Caption: Fitness, bodybuilder and sports white woman weightlifting in a gym for a strong body. Exercise, health and training with a female athlete concentrating while lifting weights for a workout
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The new advice will also place a greater emphasis on core and muscle-strengthening exercises.
Some examples
Caption: Woman is doing a variation of plank pose.
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Pilates
Pilates is a form of exercise that focuses on balance, posture, strength and flexibility.
Yoga
Yoga can help with a number of conditions, including anxiety, depression, back pain, blood pressure and chronic fatigue.
Caption: This is a photo of a man lying on a yoga mat about to do chest presses with dumbbells. See PA Feature HEALTH Back Exercises WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA feature HEALTH Back Exercises. PA Photo. Picture credit should read: Alamy/PA. NOTE TO EDITORS: This picture must only be used to accompany HEALTH Back Exercises.
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Caption: A man weight training at home in the living room – health and well being
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Weightlifting
Strength and flexibility exercises will help you increase muscle strength and improve balance.
Gym owners seek clarity over who they can allow to use their facilities (Photo: Mike Harrington/Getty/Stone RF)
opinion
How to keep fit while using weigh-loss jabs
It is estimated around 1.6 million adults in Britain used weight-loss injections such as last year, with their popularity set to soar due to weight-loss pills going on sale in pharmacies for the first time this month.
The Channel ‘choke point’ trapping Putin as shadow tankers veer away fearing seizure
Tankers carrying illicit Russian oil are adding days to their voyages by sailing around the north of Scotland following Britain’s seizure of a shadow tanker last month.
What you need to know
In the 13 days before Royal Marines boarded the Smyrtos, two-thirds of the tankers blacklisted for violating international sanctions travelled through the Channel.
But in the 13 days following the seizure, only a quarter of sanctioned tankers risked sailing between the UK and France. The vast majority took the longer route around Scotland, according to data provided by Starboard Maritime Intelligence, The i Paper can reveal.
What is the shadow fleet?
Comprised of hundreds of ageing and often uninsured vessels with obscure ownership, the “shadow fleet” is used to carry Russian oil sold in contravention of a price cap imposed by G7 nations following the invasion of Ukraine.
The vessels often operate outside of maritime regulations by sailing under false flags in order for Putin to bypass sanctions and fund his war in Ukraine.
Around a dozen shadow fleet tankers have been seized since 2024 by countries including France, Sweden, Estonia, Belgium, Germany and Finland.
The expert view
Tankers that avoid the English Channel are seeing significant disruption to their voyages, and those routes will be longer and slower and more costly
GONZALO SAIZ ERAUSQUIN, RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE
Caption: This handout picture taken on June 14, 2026 and released by the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) shows 421 Commando of the UK Commando force conducting maritime interdiction operations on the CMR Smyrtos sailing under a false Cameroonian flag, in the English Channel off the coast of the United Kingdom. British forces on June 14 intercepted a sanctioned oil tanker belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet in the English Channel, the defence ministry said, in a six-hour operation hailed by Kyiv. (Photo by Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) / AFP via Getty Images) / – NO Marketing campaign / —–EDITORS NOTE — RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / UK Ministry of Defence CROWN COPYRIGHT, 2026 ” – NO MARKETING – NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS – NO ARCHIVES – TO BE USED WITHIN 2 DAYS FROM JUNE 14, 2026 (48 HOURS), EXCEPT FOR MAGAZINES WHICH CAN PRINT THE PICTURE WHEN FIRST REPORTING ON THE EVENT /
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Caption: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Minister of Transport Andrei Nikitin in Moscow, Russia, June 15, 2026. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.
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The Smyrtos tanker seizure appears to have worried Moscow
An increasing number of shadow fleet vessels appeared to be taking routes aiming to evade potential seizure, either by avoiding the English Channel or other “pinch points” like the Strait of Gibraltar, experts say.
Watch more from The i Paper
“Poland has reportedly been warned that Russia is planning an armed “provocation” on its soil to test Nato’s resolve,” writes The i Paper’s Global Affairs Correspondent, Molly Blackall. “This could include missile or drone attacks on Polish critical infrastructure, or a limited invasion by Russian soldiers, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph.” Read Molly’s full piece on @theipaper website.
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It’s places like the Warton plant, located between Preston and Blackpool, that need protecting and supporting, argues McGuinness. In this area, “deindustrialisation has taken its toll and BAE is one of the last remaining big employers, certainly in engineering”.
When jobs are lost or shifts are cut, it impacts the whole area. For example, “the local sandwich shop doesn’t open on the weekend anymore because there’s no overtime going on,” he tells The i Paper. “But if people start moving away from the area, that has bigger knock-on effects.”
One of the best things Burnham could do, he says, is order more Typhoon fighters.
Sir Keir Starmer announced a Turkish export order of 20 Typhoon jets at BAE Warton in October but workers hope the UK will also buy more of the jets (Photo: Stefan Rousseau – WPA Pool/Getty)
Warton’s production line for the jets paused work last summer when the RAF’s final batch of Typhoons was completed, with uncertainty over hundreds of jobs. They were saved a few months later when a Turkish export order of 20 fighters was signed, but workers feel that won’t be enough.
McGuinness warns that unless the UK buys more of the jets, there could be a long gap between the final Typhoons being made and the next-generation Tempest – which is still at a design and development stage – being ready for manufacture.
“It’s a very niche job, making supersonic jets,” he says. If apprentices don’t have Typhoons to work on, “we’re really concerned that when we get to Tempest production, there’s going to be nobody who’s ever worked on a live aircraft left to build it.”
He adds that the Ministry of Defence’s failure to order a replacement for the Warton-built Hawk means it is now struggling to supply the Red Arrows display team with new jets.
McGuinness emphasises he isn’t asking Burnham for a handout. The RAF has begun retiring its oldest Typhoons, which would need replacing to ensure the air force has enough jets before the Tempest comes into service – and in McGuinness’s mind, it makes sense to do this by ordering more Typhoons instead of the largely American-made Lockheed-Martin F35A.
If the UK continues to back the Typhoon, that may also give other countries greater confidence to place more export orders. “Otherwise, it’s like going to a Ford dealership and finding all the car salesmen drive Mercedes.”
Having “lost a bit of hope” in Starmer, McGuiness has faith that Burnham will protect and support Warton. “He’s spent time in Manchester, the nearest big city to us, and he’s done the business there… He seems sincere.”
Workers at the Rolls Royce jet-engine factory in Filton, near Bristol, will also hope for more investment (Photo: Peter Nicholls/Getty)
‘Treasury sees defence as drain on public spending’
Burnham’s pledge to invest more in sovereign production capability, made in an article for The Times, comes just weeks after John Healey resigned as Starmer’s Defence Secretary, complaining the Government wasn’t releasing enough money for the long-delayed £15bn Defence Investment Plan.
Healey told the BBC this week: “The Treasury still often sees defence as a drain on public spending and not the driver of economic growth that we’ve demonstrated in two years.”
His successor at the MoD, Dan Jarvis, has backed Burnham by saying UK firms should “have an even bigger role in giving our armed forces the kit and technology they need”.
“With 85 per cent of defence spending currently staying in the UK, we are already in a strong position, but I want to go further,” said Jarvis.
Some commentators say that while this is fine in principle, the most important factor is that weapons are as effective and useful for personnel as any foreign alternatives they could have been using instead or may encounter on the battlefield.
ADS, the trade association for British defence firms, says the sector has been an unheralded success story over the last decade with employment growing by 35 per cent to 189,500. Its median wage is £41,200, 25 per cent above the UK-wide average.
Dan Jarvis, left, has backed Andy Burnham’s pledge to back British defence companies (Photos: Getty)
Raymond Duguid has worked at the Babcock shipyard in Rosyth, across the Forth river from Edinburgh, for 42 years. Like McGuinness, he is now a Unite rep, so he is speaking for the union and the workers he represents rather than for the company – and he is also hoping Burham backs up his words with action.
With about 2,000 employees at Rosyth, taking on 100 apprentices a year, it’s one of the biggest private-sector employers in the Fife region.
“When parents come in with the apprentices, you can see the real pride in what their kids are achieving, the skills they’re picking up,” he says.
The Defence Investment Plan cancelled development of new Type 32 frigates and Type 83 destroyers which Rosyth was expecting to build. Babcock is now waiting to hear if it will instead receive an order for at least six new Common Combat Vessels, which will act as motherships for deployment of aerial and marine drones.
Duguid thinks Starmer has been given “a hard time” but says governments need to improve their long-term procurement processes, so factories like his one – and the communities around them – can have more confidence in the future.
“For companies to invest in their yards, they need that long-term view of what’s coming down the road,” he says. “In our industry, we’re in boom just now but bust is probably only 18 months away.”
Buying a £500m ship from Rosyth instead of a French shipyard means then the Government is “getting some of that back in tax, national insurance and VAT, and money goes through our shops and petrol stations. That social payback needs to be looked at, because then the cost of building something in the UK becomes more affordable.”
He adds: “A lot of people would prefer that we didn’t need weapons, but that’s not the world we live in. We need to be able to defend not just our borders but our oil and gas sites, our undersea cables, the things that people don’t appreciate are under constant threat.”
Unite union officials Jed Ellis, left, and Steve McGuinness, right, hope Burnham delivers on his promise (Photos: Jed Ellis/Steve McGuinness)
‘Labour’s last chance with working-class vote’
Jed Ellis agrees. Having served as an engineer at the Rolls Royce factory in Filton, near Bristol, which makes and maintains engines for Typhoon jets, he is now a union convenor for the plant’s workers.
Ellis was disappointed that the UK joined the US-led F-35 programme as a minor partner rather than developing its own naval fighter jets for its new aircraft carriers, saying the Westcountry was “quite lucky” to avoid major job losses as a result – but hopes more Typhoon orders and development of the Tempest will revitalise things.
Ellis welcomes Burnham’s comments but warns he must deliver, feeling “this is Labour’s last chance really with the working-class vote”, given the way Reform has tried appealing to people in communities that traditionally relied on manufacturing for employment.
Given Healey’s concerns about Rachael Reeves not releasing enough funding for defence, Ellis says that Burnham’s choice as the next Chancellor of the Exchequer will be crucial if towns and cities like Bristol can count on support from Downing Street.
Burnham needs to be careful that the Treasury “doesn’t put a noose around his neck before he even starts”, says Ellis.