The £11bn the chancellor announced would be added to the defence budget over five years confirmed the pledge made by Rishi Sunak when presenting the refresh of the Integrated Review earlier this week.
The Ministry of Defence will get £5bn in the next two years, to keep up with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The government will also seek to raise the budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP, although no timeframe was given for it. The aspiration is to reach this “as soon as fiscal and economic circumstances allow”.
