Defence spending to increase by £15 billion, Starmer announces, but military chiefs say UK needs double to stay safe
Sir Keir Starmer has said the amount of money in the defence investment plan is “the right choice for the country”, but warned it would mean some road and energy projects will be scrapped.
Sir Keir Starmer has unveiled an additional £15bn in funding for defence, around half what top brass said was necessary to keep the country safe.
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The outgoing Prime Minister has allocated £15bn in funding for defence - around half of the £28bn the Ministry of Defence had asked for.
The defence investment plan (DIP) will include £5bn to increase the armed forces’ use of drones and autonomous weapons and also includes plans for a ‘hybrid navy’ with self-controlled vessels and AI alongside conventional warships.
However defence officials have previously said that investment of £28bn was needed to modernise and expand Britains military defence capabilities.
Critics say the £15billion extra funding over the next four years is 'too little too late', and will include massaged figures. There is also still no timetable for pushing defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP, let alone the 3.5 per cent the US President and Nato are demanding.
Military chiefs say a cash injection of £28billion over four years is needed to make the UK secure.
Tory defence spokesman James Cartlidge said: "This is too little too late. Too little because it is barely more than John Healey and Al Carns resigned over, and too late because the plan is almost a year overdue. It is only being rushed through because Keir Starmer is desperate for a legacy."
Former defence secretary John Healey quit in protest at the DIP, which he warned would fall far short of meeting Britain’s commitments to the Nato alliance, which has tasked all member states with hiking core defence spending to 3.5% of national economic output by 2035.
Sir Keir said the amount of money in the defence investment plan is “the right choice for the country”, but warned it would mean some road and energy projects will be scrapped.
He added that the defence DIP has reversed the “corrosive hollowing out” of the armed forces.
Speaking in Berkshire, he said: “We must stand more firmly on our own two feet.
“We must do what it takes to meet this new world head on, to keep our country safe and seize the opportunities that come from investing against our sovereign strength. That is what we’re doing.
“That’s why we have reversed the corrosive hollowing out of our armed forces, and it’s why we’re transforming a defence programme that, frankly, for too long has been underfunded and unsuited for the threats that we face.”
He said the annual defence spend will increase from £54 billion to £80 billion by 2029.
Sir Keir said: “When the world is arming and aggression is rising, the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it.
“The best way to defend is to deter, to have the strength to make your adversaries think again before they act.
“And that is what we are doing.”
General Sir Richard Barrons, a co-author of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, said today’s plan was “not going to crack the issue” of properly funding the nation’s armed forces.
“It is still not going to crack the issue of, in order to defend the UK sufficiently well, sufficiently quickly, more has to be done sooner, and that requires more money than is currently on the table,” he said.
He said: “We’re not keeping up with our allies, we’re certainly not keeping up with our enemies, and we know that the US is no longer going to come and save European security in the face of a Russian threat.
“So until we come to terms with the fact that we have to find more money for defence sooner, and yes, it will be at the cost of other things we like more, we are simply not going to be ready to defend this country properly.”
The Prime Minister has secured some extra money for the plan, taking the full settlement to around £15 billion, according to Chancellor Rachel Reeves – up from the £13.5 billion offered while led to the resignation of Mr Healey but short of the £28 billion defence officials previously said was needed.