“If you’ve got a British postcode, you are a British company,” Defence Minister Pollard told 1,000 industry leaders at the ADS annual dinner, setting out a supplier‑first push that puts SMEs in the room from day one. The message was unapologetically practical: more work for British firms, clearer routes into MOD programmes, and faster decisions.

He confirmed the creation of the Office for Small Business Growth (OSBG) in Scotland - pitched as a single front door for suppliers who’ve spent years bouncing between departments. The unit will advise, triage opportunities and remove guesswork over who to call, with ministers promising SMEs will no longer be told they’re too small to matter.

Money follows the door. The MOD is committing £7.5 billion to small businesses by 2028 - a 50 per cent uplift in direct departmental spend - and expects the primes to match the direction of travel. For northern founders in advanced manufacturing, software and AI, that is a live pipeline, not a slogan.

ADS’s 2025 Facts and Figures put the sector at £100 billion turnover and £42 billion of value added, supporting more than 460,000 well‑paid jobs nationwide. A big share sits in the North: submarines in Barrow, fast‑jet and GCAP activity at Warton and Samlesbury, missiles in Bolton, heavy forgings in Sheffield and ship repair in Birkenhead. The supply chain stretches from Teesside composites to North Yorkshire electronics.

On spending, ministers restated a pathway beyond the oft‑quoted 2.5 per cent of GDP. The aim is 3 per cent in the next Parliament and 5 per cent on national security by 2035. If it holds, that is the largest sustained rise since the Cold War - and it will only count in towns like Barrow, Blackburn and Birkenhead if programmes are placed and schedules are kept.

Industry frustration over the long‑awaited Defence Investment Plan was acknowledged. Pollard said the plan is the department’s top priority, the first line‑by‑line review in 18 years, and necessary after inheriting an over‑committed, under‑funded programme. Expect a tighter pipeline that backs the domestic industrial base and buys kit that can be built, upgraded and sustained here.

The innovation push is tangible. Ten per cent of the equipment budget is being ring‑fenced for novel technology, UK Defence Innovation has a protected £400 million a year, and a new fund of up to £20 million will hunt for “defence unicorns”. A Dragon’s Den‑style event will provide seed cheques for early concepts - a clear opening for AMRC North West, university spin‑outs across Sheffield, Manchester and Newcastle, and emerging autonomy and AI outfits from Samlesbury to the Tyne.

Cyber was the other drumbeat. As the dinner got underway, Pollard said the UK defence estate would face roughly twenty cyber attacks on average before the speeches ended, with around 50,000 new cyber threats identified nationally in the same window. For northern firms plugged into the Manchester digital spine and units at RAF Leeming, the work is immediate: build secure systems, harden supply chains and keep clearances current.

Procurement culture is also on the block. The minister’s homework for primes and tier‑twos was blunt: improve productivity, hit timelines, control costs and level with the department when slippage appears. The old cost‑plus approach, he argued, has to go; companies that move at pace and export will be rewarded.

Exportability was pushed up‑front - design with overseas customers in mind from day one. That aligns with how Warton has sold Typhoon upgrades abroad and how Bolton has scaled missile assembly for allied orders. “We must sell to the world,” Pollard said, because domestic demand alone cannot sustain the capacity Britain needs.

The geopolitical framing was equally stark, tied to Ukraine and the need for warfighting readiness. But for readers here, the takeaway is practical: the money and the mechanisms are moving. The test now is whether Whitehall, primes and SMEs can turn them into signed orders, apprentices in training and kit on time across the North.