Starmer dodges questions on tax rises at PMQs after Rachel Reeves suggested hikes were coming to fund defence plan
Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out bringing in further tax rises in order to fund the government's spending on defence.
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The Prime Minister was accused of "dithering" and time wasting by Conservative leader Kemi Badench during PMQs on Wednesday as MPs await the publication of Labour's Defence Investment Plan (Dip).
It comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves hinted on Tuesday that she may end up raising taxes further in order to increase the spending on defence.
Sir Keir appeared to dodge the matter twice at the Commons on Wednesday when pressed on the release of the defence plan by Kemi Badenoch.
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The Conservative leader said: "The military is waiting, the bond markets are watching. He has only three options, cutting spending, more borrowing or higher taxes.
"We know that the Chancellor wants to put up tax to pay for it. Will the Prime Minister rule out raising taxes?"
Sir Keir responded: "She asks the House to simply ignore the last 14 years under their watch.
"We've increased defence spending, we are going to publish the Defence Investment Plan and that will be done before the Nato summit coming up in just a few weeks’ time."
Ms Badenoch responded: "I wasn’t asking him about our record, I asked him if he would rule out tax rises. He did not rule out raising taxes, so tax rises are coming."
Asked why not cut welfare spending, Sir Keir responded by saying Labour would not take lectures on defence from the Conservatives "after what they did to the armed forces".
Sir Keir further added that he would take the "necessary measures to defend our country".
The exchange comes after Ms Reeves indicated that imposing higher taxes would be "better" than creating a situation of seeing interest rates climbing.
She also warned that pressures to fund defence were only "going in one direction".
Speaking at the Peel Hunt FTSE 250+ Conference in London, Ms Reeves said: "We are in a constrained fiscal world, and I think we’ll be honest about that, and we’re going to have to spend more on defence.
"I would argue that despite the pain of higher taxes, better to do that than to get into a situation that we were in before, where we had interest rates climbing and the risk premia for the UK climbing too."
She added: "The first duty of the government is to keep its people safe, and in the world in which we live today, it’s increasingly clear that the US and other European countries are going to have to spend more on defence, but crucially spend that money better."
"The money has to come from somewhere, and borrowing cannot always be the answer."
The Defence Investment Plan (Dip) is expected to be released before next month's Nato summit in Turkey, and will detail the UK's long-term strategy for the Armed Forces.
The UK has committed to reaching a defence spending target of three per cent of gross domestic product when economic conditions allow, and 2.6 per cent by 2027.
This includes spending on the military as well as on security and intelligence.
Ministers are reportedly prepared to pay an extra £15 billion to fund the Defence Investment Plan, between the £12billion the Treasury were prepared to fund, and the £18 billion the Ministry of Defence were looking at.
Sir Keir Starmer said last week: He insisted of the upcoming plan: "Yes, it'll be fully funded.
"We'll settle that out. And this will give us the capability that we need going forward from here. It's vital that we do that.”
He added: "I've always said we're going to have to spend more on defence and so we will set out the funding in relation to the Defence Investment Plan. It is about a question of priorities and this is the top priority."