Boris Johnson: New defence review 'vital instrument' in helping level up UK

Boris Johnson has unveiled a major review of foreign policy in the House of Commons, telling MPs it is a "vital instrument" that will help level up the UK.The strategy, which includes a plan to increase the UK’s nuclear stockpile, will see post-Brexit Britain tilt towards the Indo-Pacific region as the world’s “geopolitical and economic centre of gravity” moves east.

The strategy also acknowledges the risks posed by increased competition between states – including a more assertive China – along with terrorism, organised crime, climate change and the “realistic possibility” of another pandemic.