Healey to host Australian and American counterparts amid submarines deal talks

Defence Secretary John Healey and his Australian counterpart will meet in London amid efforts to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

Mr Healey will host Richard Marles, who is also Anthony Albanese’s deputy prime minister, and US defence secretary Lloyd James Austin III at an Aukus security partnership meeting on Thursday.

If Australia and the UK sign a treaty, the Westminster Government has estimated the SSN-Aukus submarine build project would unlock UK exports into the billions of pounds.

The Government also confirmed the new treaty will outline the UK’s relationship with Australia on submarine co-operation.

“As AUKUS partners, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder in an increasingly unstable world,” Mr Healey said.

“This is a partnership that will boost jobs, growth and prosperity across our three nations, as well as strengthening our collective security.

“I’m delighted that we will soon be commencing negotiations on a bilateral Aukus treaty with Australia, which will help create a more secure and stable Indo-Pacific for decades to come.”

The SSN-Aukus attack submarines will be conventionally armed and nuclear-powered, the Ministry of Defence has said, with the work set to support UK jobs for more than 21,000 people.

Construction of the UK’s Royal Navy units will principally take place at BAE Systems’ Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, in Cumbria.

Rolls-Royce will build nuclear reactors to power both the UK and Australian craft at its Raynesway site in Derby.

Mr Marles spent Wednesday in Norway, where he discussed missile technology with his counterpart in Oslo Bjorn Arild Gram.

“I look forward to meeting my Aukus counterparts in London, the first with Secretary Healey as we continue delivering key outcomes of Aukus,” the Australian deputy prime minister said.