Badenoch Pledges £10bn 'Britannia Shield' Missile Defence System
The Conservative leader says a UK-wide integrated air and missile defence network is needed to counter growing drone and missile threats, but the Liberal Democrats dismiss the £10bn plan as 'fantasy economics'.
Kemi Badenoch has pledged that a Conservative government would build a £10bn integrated air and missile defence system to protect Britain from attack, describing the project as a British «Iron Dome». The plan, named the «Britannia Shield», would create a nationwide network of radar, command and control systems to detect incoming threats, alongside interceptor missiles to destroy drones and missiles before they reach their targets.
The announcement comes as the threat of missile and drone attack against Britain and its allies continues to grow. Russia bombards Ukraine daily with increasingly advanced drones and missiles, and was behind a drone attack on Leipzig airport in August. Drones launched by Iranian proxies have struck an RAF base in Cyprus, and when Iran fired missiles at the Chagos Islands earlier this year, it was the United States that stepped in to launch interceptors. Nato allies, particularly in the Baltic states, are suffering ever greater numbers of drone incursions, and western intelligence agencies have warned that Russia could attack a Nato country by 2030.
Badenoch accused Labour of failing to keep the country safe, arguing that Britain remains dangerously exposed in an increasingly unpredictable world. The Conservatives say the growing scale and complexity of threats demands a dedicated national missile defence capability rather than reliance on allies. A report in November 2025 by the defence select committee warned that, compared to European allies investing heavily in integrated air and missile defence, the UK has «next to nothing».
The Liberal Democrats dismissed the proposal as «Truss-style fantasy economics». James MacCleary, the party's defence spokesperson, said £10bn would not even touch the sides for a complete UK-wide «Iron Dome». He argued that the Conservatives would only deliver a «Patchwork Dome» and challenged them to come clean about which parts of the country would be left uncovered. MacCleary also accused the party of having hollowed out the armed forces over a decade and said its plan to fill the defence-spending black hole was based on targeted cuts to the poorest and most vulnerable children. «You do not make Britain safer by pushing families into poverty», he said.
Labour has warned that the Conservatives cannot be trusted on defence, pointing to their record in government. The exchange sets up defence as a central battleground in UK politics, with the opposition seeking to frame the government as insufficiently prepared for emerging threats while the governing party questions the credibility of Conservative spending plans.
The «Britannia Shield» would be one of the most significant UK defence projects in decades if implemented, requiring coordination across radar, command systems and interceptor technology. The Conservatives argue it would close a critical gap in national security, while critics question whether the proposed budget is realistic and whether the system could genuinely cover the whole country. The debate is likely to intensify as Nato allies increase their own air defence investments and warnings about Russian aggression continue to mount.
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