Arms manufacturers cancel to Uni of Liverpool events due to “woke” security concerns

Defence firms and and arms companies have cancelled events at a number of UK universities this year, including careers fairs and on-campus events at the University of Liverpool, due to security fears over protesters.

Recent accusations made by defense organisations against multiple university institutions have blamed student demonstrations for a decline in recruitment figures at a period of heightened global threat.

One industry source has labelled the safety approach as “woke” with a fellow chief executive calling out universities for their “unhelpful” campus environments.

According to The Times, the University of Liverpool is amongst one of many universities which has seen defence firms pull out of on-campus events in fear of compromised security at the hands of student protesters.

These companies, which produce weapons for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and for export, have claimed to witness an increase in student hostility and harassment since the Israel-Gaza conflict began in October 2023.

Some organisations have said to have been made to cancel their appearances at on-campus events designed for university students, such as recruitment and careers fairs.

The proposed list from the Ministry of Defence is understood to name dozens of universities across the UK which have seen cancellations to events, lectures, talks or careers fairs booked by arms companies, at the request of university advisors or their own management.

Also believed to be on the list alongside the University of Liverpool were the University of Edinburgh, the University of Manchester, the University of Sheffield, Cardiff University and the University of Warwick.

Around 20 different arms and defence organisations are believed to have been expected to make appearances on these university campuses across the country, delivering guest lectures and hosting stands at careers fairs.

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Kevin Craven, the chief executive of the ADS group, which represents a wide range of defence, aerospace and security companies, has made claims suggesting that security and safety fears have pressured these businesses to cancel.

Other defence industry employees have supposedly experienced a “concerning” level of destruction that has left them feeling intimidated by student activists.

Kevin later described the anti-arms protests and campus environments as “unhelpful” to his organisations’ wider attempts to recruit students to join their defence schemes.

There is now a growing concern that the sheer amount of students proposing rejections to arms companies featuring at events on their campuses is only getting worse.

Leonardo UK, a defence firm that supplies equipment to the MoD, recently accused some universities of “self-censoring”.

Subsequently, their UK chair and chief executive officer Clive Higgins then warned that the nation’s security could be severely impacted by the behaviour of institutions like the University of Liverpool.

Companies like Leonardo UK have been investing tens of thousands of pounds to protect their staff in the wake of multiple demonstration attempts on university campuses – including anti-arms activists and protesters supporting Palestine.

The organisation’s CEO said: “When we do try to invest in the universities or hold events for students, we often see a minority of students protesting that they don’t want the aerospace and defence industry investing in the university”.

He then labelled this perspective as “biased”.

A second industry source told The Times some universities were now “quite literally a hostile environment”.

They added: “This has the result of denying young people access to potential jobs and denying our defence industrial base access to skills and talent”.

The Liverpool Tab contacted the University of Liverpool for comment on the matter.

A spokesperson said: “We have a positive relationship with a very wide range of employers, including those working in the defence sector.

“These companies have attended recent career fairs at the University and will continue to do so”.