Afternoon summary
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Keir Starmer has warned his successor not to borrow more to pay for defence as he raided energy, transport and housing projects to plug a military spending deficit with an extra £15bn over the next four years. Here is our Today in Focus podcast with Kiran Stacey talking about the defence investment plan announcement.
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The next chancellor will have to find almost £5bn over four years (including almost £2bn from government spending for 2026-27) to fund the rest of the defence investment plan, government figures show. (See 4.29pm.)
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Updated
Zack Polanski attacks 'refugee tax' plan from Home Office to make asylum seekers pay £10,000 towards living costs
As Rajeev Syal reports, asylum seekers will be ordered to pay about £10,000 to cover their state-funded living costs or be denied settled status in the UK under provisions in the immigration and asylum bill, which was introduced to parliament today.
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has called this a refugee tax. He says:
This is a Refugee Tax.
It was originally proposed by the Tories, and the only reason asylum seekers could be claimed to ‘owe’ any money is because they are banned from working.
Another cruel Labour policy – that must be reversed on day one by Andy Burnham.
Lammy to raise US pilot avoiding UK trial for strangling woman with Washington
David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, has said he is raising with the US government the “extremely concerning” case of an American fighter pilot avoiding a trial under English law for strangling a woman in Cambridge, the Press Association reports.
Capt Jacob Wulfson was tried at a court martial on a US airbase, despite his alleged crime taking place while he was off-duty. As first reported by the Guardian, the case was not investigated by the local police and was instead handed to the US military.
Asked about the case during justice questions, Lammy said:
Halving violence against women and girls is a decade mission for this government.
This case is extremely concerning, and our thoughts, of course, are with the victim, Sarah, but given the cross-agency nature of this case, my officials are working across government and we’re raising this case with the US government to establish the full facts.
Lammy was speaking in response to Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller who argued “victims of crimes on English soil should see justice served in our justice system”.
Raising defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, in line with Nato pledge, would cost another £25bn a year, IFS says
Britain, and other Nato countries, have committed to raising defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035.
In an initial response to the defence investment plan, the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank says that, to reach that, the government will have to raise defence spending by the equivalent of £25bn a year in today’s money.
Max Warner, a senior research economist at the IFS, says:
Zooming out, the UK is currently committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035, alongside Nato allies. Defence spending was 2.2% of GDP in 2023–24, and today’s plans imply it will reach 2.7% next year and remain there until 2029–30. While the announced increases today are quite small, the overall increase in defence spending since this government came to office remains substantial – but even so, only gets us just over a third of the way to 3.5%.
Defence spending will likely remain one of the biggest fiscal pressures facing the UK in the medium term. If the UK is to get to 3.5% of GDP spent on defence in 2035, this will mean finding around an additional £25bn each year by 2035 in today’s terms relative to the newly announced plans. Given the clear difficulties of finding less than a sixth of this per year as part of the DIP process, this will be one key challenge facing the next prime minister, along with deciding how a substantial share of today’s top-ups will be funded.
Liberal values 'ring hollow' if goverments don't have military power to defend them, attorney general Lord Hermer says
Labour governments should never think that being able to deploy military force is incomptable with liberal values, Lord Hermer, the attorney general, said today.
Speaking at a New Statesman conference, Hermer said Labour should “reject the false choice between exercising power and defending liberal values”.
Hermer said “power without values is not strength”, and “ultimately destructive”. But he also said that “values without hard power are illusory”.
Defending the case for higher defence spending, as set out in the defence investment plan today, Hermer said:
A progressive response to our dangerous world must be underpinned, unapologetically, by hard power.
Progressives do not always feel comfortable talking about hard power.
We prefer to speak about soft power: the influence the UK can wield in the world by exemplifying values like justice; fairness; rights and compassion.
Those things matter enormously. They are the lodestars of our collective politics.
But in government you learn that in a dangerous world, soft power is not enough.
Military power matters. Economic power matters. Technological power matters.
Without such hard power, our principles become aspirations rather than achievements, and our values ring hollow if we cannot defend them.
But he also stressed the importance of having a rules-based international order.
Multilateralism and the rules-based order is manifestly in the UK’s national, economic and security interests.
Shared rules make Britain more prosperous, allowing us to trade with confidence. They make us more just, by underpinning protections for our citizens. And they make us more secure, by enabling cooperation with allies.
The post-World War Two order we helped build coincided with a period of the greatest economic and social advancements in the history of humanity. That is not a coincidence.
Burnham says he will end culture of briefing against female ministers
Andy Burnham has said he will end the culture of briefing against female ministers, promising Labour MPs he will sack any staff who undermine women in his team, Jessica Elgot reports.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has published her own written statement about the Dip funding. It largely repeats what was in the Dip funding explainer produced jointly by the MoD and the Treasury. (See 4.29pm.) She says the remaining £4.7bn will be found at the next budget “in a fair and balanced way”.
It is funded primarily by reallocating budget from across government departments, with £10.3bn identified now. A further £4.7bn over four years will be confirmed at Budget 2026, in a fair and balanced way.
Next chancellor will have to find almost £5bn to fund black hole in Dip funding, government figures reveal
The Ministry of Defence has also published a document explaining how the £15bn Dip is being funded.
As Keir Starmer explained in his speech this morning, all departments have been asked to cut capital spending by 1%. (See 10.56am.) That generates £4bn over four years.
Two departments have been asked to make bigger cuts: transport, which faces further cuts worth £800m over four years, and energy, which faces further cuts worth £2bn over four years.
Explaining the energy cuts, the document, jointly produced with the Treasury, says:
DESNZ [Department for Energy Security and Net Zero] will find an additional £2bn of savings – including £400m financial transactions – while maintaining the fastest growing capital budget out of any department across this spending review period. Getting off fossil fuels is vital to our national security, safeguarding household, business and government finances. DESNZ will reshape its capital budget in a way which continues to protect the clean power mission, drive renewable and nuclear build-out and insulate us from future gas price spikes on the path to energy independence. More detailed plans will be shared by autumn.
And, explaining the transport cuts, it says:
DfT [Department for Transport] will provide savings of up to £700m from its roads funding. The department will consult on reductions to the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) – including the potential cancellation of the A38 Derby Junctions and A46 Newark bypass schemes, both of which are yet to enter contract and not as far along as other road schemes. There will be stakeholder consultations before any final decision is taken.
DfT will also explore limited reductions to as yet uncommitted roads funding. The government remains committed to protecting funding for local authorities to mend potholes and repair their roads, protecting investment in rail infrastructure, including Northern Powerhouse Rail, and the proposals will not impact bus or rail services.
The document also says that the next chancellor will have to find almost £5bn over four years (including almost £2bn from government spending for 2026-27) to fund the rest of the Dip.
‘Next chancellor’, because even Rachel Reeves now accepts that she will not stay in post when Andy Burnham becomes PM. Her joint appearance with Keir Starmer this morning had a valedictory feel to it. At times it was as if Starmer were giving the speech at her leaving do. (See 11.36am.)
Back in the Commons, the Lib Dem MP Al Pinkerton asked Dan Jarvis if it was true that he was asked to remove a line from his speech saying the chief of defence staff supported the Dip. (See 12.40pm.)
Jarvis said that was not true. He said all the service chiefs supported the Dip.
The MoD has now published the defence investment plan.
It contains this chart showing how defence spending is rising.
The DEL is the departmental expenditure limit. Resource DEL is day-to-day spending, and capital DEL is capital spending.
And this chart shows defence spending by category.
Stop the War Coalition accuses Starmer of exaggerating threat from Russia
This is what the Stop the War Coalition has said about the Dip. It is a statement from Chris Nineham, the coalition’s vice-chair.
In a telling and desperate bid to leave ‘a legacy’, Keir Starmer has insisted on announcing the defence investment plan before leaving office and before the Nato summit. Never mind the cost-of-living crisis or the collapsing services he leaves behind, Starmer wants to be remembered as the man who ramped up spending on weapons to record levels.
He claims he doesn’t want war, but that the best way to avoid it is to be prepared for it. This is a transparent lie. His government has done little more than enable the US and Israel’s illegal wars and has enthusiastically backed the war in Ukraine, doing everything possible to prolong the carnage in the effort to, as he put it today, “turn the screws” on the Russian economy.
It is clear that security, defence and the fantasy and implausible threat from Russia, which is constantly talked up by ministers, generals and arms companies, are now the main ways that the ruling classes are justifying attacks on social programmes, on welfare and working-class living standards in general in favour of still more missiles.
In the Commons Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, said the government needed to go further and faster in raising defence spending. He asked Jarvis why the government was not joining the Defence Security and Resilience Bank.
Jarvis said the government would look at different mechanisms to increase defence spending. He said, in his two weeks as defence secretary, he had not had a lot of time to look at longer-term spending plans. But he said he would look at what allies were saying, take advice and was “not ruling anything out or ruling anything in”.
This is from Tan Dhesi, the Labour chair of the defence committee, on the Dip.
The defence investment plan sets out clear priorities and welcome additional investment, particularly in readiness, nuclear capability and support to Ukraine.
However, compared with previous plans, it contains significantly less detail on how that investment will be delivered, particularly over the longer term. It is disappointing that we do not have a clear timeline for reaching 3% of GDP, let alone the pathway to 3.5% which the UK has committed to at Nato.
Al Carns, who resigned as armed forces minister over the Dip, only a few hours after John Healey resigned, went next. He asked what proportion of the defence budget was being spent on drones.
Jarvis said he knew Carns had a particular figure in mind, and he said he was keen to discuss that with him. But he said the Dip involved “the largest ever investment in drone warfare”.
James MacCleary, the Lib Dem defence spokesperson, also described the Dip as “too little, too late”.
After years of Conservative neglect, Britain needed a government willing to match the scale of the challenge.
Instead, we’ve had months of delay and now a plan that still appears to have a significant gap between the ambition and the resources required.
John Healey, the former defence secretary, says these plans mean the UK will be spending 2.7% of GDP on defence by 2030. He asks Jarvis if he agrees that more needs to be done.
Jarvis says the government has a clear “commitment that [defence] will be a number one priority at the next spending review”.
James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, is responding to Jarvis. He repeats the line he used earlier about this being “too little, too late”. (See 8.37am.)
He says much of the capability outlined in the Dip “won’t be in service until the 2030s, when the threat we face is right now”.
He says the chief of the defence staff wanted £28bn for the Dip. But this plan will deliver barely half of that, he says.
Jarvis says the UK remains committed to the Nato target to raise defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035.
The UK made a promise to our allies as they did to us – 3.5% by ‘35 – and in a more dangerous world, our commitment to Nato is absolute.
I gave my word to the [Nato] secretary general and to all our allies that promise will be met and a credible plan will be produced to ensure that it is. We will reach 3% in the next parliament, with funding set out at the next spending review, in which defence will be the number one priority.
Jarvis is now summing up the key elements of the Dip. (See 12.30pm.)
Jarvis says £1.5bn more allocated to Dip now than when Healey resigned
Jarvis explains how the Dip has changed.
I will lay out what has changed and why.
This plan now commits more investment in our armed forces – £298bn over the next four years.
That includes an additional £15bn on top of last year’s spending review settlement, of which most is extra day to day spending for training and improving availability of ships and aircraft to increase our warfighting readiness.
That is £1.5bn more than when I took up this job just a couple of weeks ago.
This means defence spending will now increase in real terms by 27% between 2023 and 2024 and 2029 and 2030. That is a bigger increase across a parliament than any present member of this house has ever seen.
It means the £74bn allocated to our armed forces next year is now £20bn, more than the last year of the previous government.
And it means by the end of this decade, the proportion of GDP spent on defence will now be higher than at any time during the last 30 years.
Dan Jarvis is making his statement to MPs now.
He says:
The central purpose of this defence investment plan, which we published today, is to ensure that [the armed forces] have the kit and technology they need to do the difficult job that we ask of them.
I know first-hand just how important that is, and when I was appointed defence secretary just a couple of weeks ago, I promised to get that right.
Today, I make good on that promise.
(That is Jarvis taking credit for the changes made to the Dip since the version that was in place when John Healey resigned.)
John Healey welcomes extra funding for Dip, but says UK still not spending enough on defence
John Healey who resigned as defence secretary just under three weeks ago because he wanted more funding for the Dip, has posted these on social media.
Since he resigned, the Treasury has allocated a further £1.5bn for the Dip, and he welcomes that. But he says the UK still needs to spend more.
I want the Defence Investment Plan to be a success. And I thank the MOD officials who’ve worked so hard over many months on it. I welcome the extra funding and focus the Treasury has ceded over the last couple of weeks. (1/6)
The DIP is not only a spending plan to transform Britain’s Armed Forces to meet growing threats. It must be a growth and reform plan to back British industry, innovation, jobs for communities across the UK. And it must provide the British leadership allies are looking for. (2/6)
The SDR set the vision for a safer Britain. It can be accelerated. Since then, the world has changed. Threats have increased. Demands on defence have risen. The PM has made important new UK commitments. So we must now do more. (3/6)
Today is the next downpayment for defence. It builds on the record defence investment Labour in government has already made. But Britain will still be spending just 2.7% of GDP in 2030, the date when NATO has warned we could face a Russian attack. (4/6)
European security is at stake. The PM has said today that 3% must be the number 1 priority for the next spending review. We need a target date for 3% and a clear, credible funding plan to meet our NATO commitment for 3.5% on defence by 2035. (5/6)
As always, our Labour Government will continue to have my fullest support. (6/6)
Updated
Dan Jarvis, the defence secretary, will start his statement to MPs about the defence investment plan (Dip) within the next few minutes.
Health secretary James Murray tells MPs Amos review of maternity care should be 'watershed moment'
As Denis Campbell and Tobi Thomas reports, the government is going to appoint a maternity commissioner to push through an urgent transformation of childbirth care in England after a review of maternity care by Valerie Amos concluded that it had multiple failings.
In a statement to MPs on the report, James Murray, the health secretary, said:
The report paints a bleak picture of failings at every stage for far too many – from pregnancy, labour and delivery, to the first hours, days and weeks after birth.
When I read about these systemic failures, I found them not only shocking and upsetting but also devastatingly familiar because they are explicitly repeated in review after review.
Murray also said that a fundamental change of culture was needed.
Culture is where so much of the responsibility lies. That culture is the most deep-rooted cause of the failures we have seen, and the most fundamental thing we must change.
We will dismantle toxic dynamics, boost staff morale, and support better teamwork between midwives, doctors, and other clinicians.
We need not only the right policies, procedures, and processes to be in place, but also a fundamental reset in the culture of a service that too often puts the desire to protect itself above the duty to protect women and babies.
That culture change must come from the top. It is time that trust leaders, executives, and senior clinicians pay attention to what is happening on their watch, put professional tribalism aside, lose the bunker mentality when things go wrong, and make sure the safety of women and babies always comes first.
This has to be a watershed moment. We must break the cycle of recommendations sitting on a shelf gathering dust.
Nigel Farage paid £22,500 per hour for working as brand ambassador for gold dealer, MPs' register reveals
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has received £270,000 from a company that trades in gold for a few hours’ work he has done for it as a brand ambassador.
The payment is recorded in the latest edition of the register of MPs’ financial interests, and it is the largest single payment he has registered for work.
Farage has extensive outside interests, and the money he gets from his second jobs dwarfs what he gets from his earnings as an MP.
He has previously registered payments from Direct Bullion for his work as a brand ambassador. But the latest payment is double what he got from the gold company in 2025.
In the register Farage says that in return for the £270,000 he was working a maximum four hours a month for three months. Assuming he worked the full 12 hours, that would amount to an hourly rate of £22,500.
Ed Davey rejects Starmer's criticism of Lib Dem plan for defence bonds
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has restated his call for the government to fund higher defence spending using defence bonds. In his speech this morning Keir Starmer dismissed this as “just borrowing by another name”. (See 10.56am.) But, in a statement issued after the speech, Davey said:
The Liberal Democrats’ plans for defence bonds would raise £20bn for investment in our armed forces, but Starmer has once again put his fingers in his ears. Andy Burnham needs to go much further and take up our plans to repair the damage done, keep our country safe, and allow the UK to meet its Nato commitments.
These are from Mark Urban, the defence specialist and SundayTimes columnist, on the Dip.
I shouldn’t be surprised after 40 years reporting defence - but it’s amazing to see how easily the commentariat & Westminster can be diverted into talking about drones when the real Q is whether the nation is ready to accept the peace dividend is over, & scale of spend needed now
The £15bn defence spending boost announced today by the government adds just £1.5bn (over 4 years) to the sum John Healey resigned over, saying it would require defence cuts. It confirms the UK is not ready to fulfil last year’s spending promise to Nato at the speed the military wanted - big implications, as I wrote a fortnight ago https://markurban.substack.com/p/game-over?r=24uwax
The latest news release from the MoD includes this comment on the defence investment plan from Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton, the chief of the defence staff (head of the armed forces). He said:
This plan sets out how and where we will invest in defence over the coming years to deliver the strategic defence review and build the integrated force the nation needs.
It also reflects both the importance of national defence and the vital contribution our armed forces make every day to keeping the country safe.
This is a neutral, factual comment, not an endorsement.
Andrew Marr, the LBC presenter, says Dan Jarvis, the defence secretary, was told to remove a line from his speech today saying Knighton backed the Dip.
BREAKING: I am hearing senior military upset at the DIP. Dan Jarvis had sentence saying that the chief of staff backed the plan but, because it’s not properly funded, they told him he had to take the sentence out
How the MoD is spending its money
The Ministry of Defence has released further details about the defence investment plan.
It says it will see “an increase in defence funding from £54bn a year under the previous government to almost £80bn a year by 2029, and will see the UK’s defence spending increase to 2.7% of GDP.”
And this is what it says about how the MoD is spending its money.
-More than £8 billion in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) over the next four years, progressing the programme which will build a next-generation stealth fighter jet for the Royal Air Force, alongside our close allies Japan and Italy.
-More than £63 billion over the next four years to strengthen the UK’s nuclear deterrent and to fund Dreadnought and SSN-AUKUS submarines, a new warhead, and other crucial nuclear work. Additionally, we will also purchase 12 F35As and join NATO’s nuclear mission.
-Including elements of the above nuclear investment in the first four years, £26 billion over the next decade in Project Royal Oak – the biggest naval base upgrade for over 45 years, including multi-billion-pound upgrades at Faslane, Portsmouth and Devonport.
-Over £5 billion for the next four years to fund a drone transformation for our Armed Forces. As part of this, £650 million will deliver inexpensive expendable autonomous systems including drones and uncrewed ground vehicles to rapidly enhance the lethality of the Army, Commando Force and Special Forces.
-Nearly £2 billion to integrate our Armed Forces through a new Digital Targeting Web. This will enable faster decision-making and speed in destroying identified targets and will be underpinned by world leading AI and software.
-£790 million over the next four years to enhance protection of the UK homeland and overseas bases from air, drone and missile threats. This will revolutionise command and control and buy new radars and sensors. We will also invest in Directed Energy Weapons, upgrade Sea Viper for our Type 45 destroyers, expand counter drone systems, and build a new Integrated Air, Space and Missile Defence Operations Centre.
-£11 billion on munitions and weapons to increase UK stockpiles and ensure our Armed Forces have the right mix of capabilities to defeat targets, including long-range strike weapons, low-cost cruise missiles and one-way effectors. By 2030, we will have built at least six new energetics factories and increased our national munitions production capacity.
-£900 million investment to drive efficiency and reform procurement, including a £500 million Transformation Fund to deliver productivity improving investments in AI and workforce transformation, as well as an initial £400m contribution to setting up the Multilateral Defence Mechanism.
-£100 million for the Prime Minister’s Rapid AI Delivery Taskforce (RAID) to accelerate the deployment of AI-enabled capabilities into the hands of our Armed Forces.
Nato chief Mark Rutte welcomes Dip as 'good step' towards reaching 3.5% defence spending target
Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, has issued a statement welcoming the defence investment plan. He says:
I welcome the UK’s Defence Investment Plan. Stronger UK defence makes us all safer. This is a good step towards reaching the 3.5% of GDP on defence agreed in The Hague last year
Defence spending and production will be an important focus of the #NATOsummit next week
Q: [From Sophie Huskisson from the Daily Mirror] What advice do you have for Andy Burnham on how to stop the Treasury and MoD fighting over defence spending?
Starmer started with a tribute to Rachel Reeves. He said:
Let me just say a word or two about the Treasury and about this chancellor, if I may.
We inherited an economy that was broken. and there’s no doubting that, nobody argues about that.
And this chancellor put it on a stable footing. And you saw that in the figures earlier this year, set out in the spring statement; they spoke for themselves.
He said that meant he could “depart the stage” knowing he had left the economy in a better state then before.
On wrangling with the MoD, he said:
At the end of the day, the prime minister and the chancellor have to look at the overall judgments for the government, the overall affordability and priorities between different things.
Departments, of course, will put forward, in good faith the commitments they think we should make. I understand that.
But what we have to do is judge them against what we can afford, what the priorities of the country are.
.
Starmer says he's '100% confident' in Dip
Q: [From Paul McNamara from Channel 4 News] Many retired defence chiefs say you are not spending enough? Are you just ignoring them, or do you think they are wrong?
Starmer says defence has had its biggest sustained spending increase for 50 years.
He goes on:
It really is going to deliver the capability that we need for the future and that is what it does. That is my judgement call on this, of course.
I hugely respect those with great experience and great service.
There will always be those that say, whatever the sum is, frankly it’s not enough …
I have a job as prime minister to get this judgement right in terms of the amount of money that is spent, the capability that we need as a country. And that is why I’m 100% confident in the plan that we’ve put forward this morning.
Starmer says 'any Labour PM' would back Dip - but declines to say explicitly Burnham has approved it
Q: [From Andy Bell from 5 Live News] Has Andy Burnham seen this plan and signed it off?
Starmer says:
The way I put it is this, I don’t think anybody would argue that the strategic defence review was needed.
Any prime minister will want to know what are the capabilities I have at my disposal now …
So that is something which any Labour prime minister would want to stand behind. It’s a platform any Labour prime minister want to stand on because the first duty of any prime minister is the defence and security of the country.
Q: [From Sky’s Beth Rigby] What assurances have you had from Andy Burnham that he will continue to raise defence spending?
Starmer says:
I think a test of any prime minister is whether they leave the country in a better state than they found it. And if you look at our country, that is undoubtedly the case on the economy. Undoubtedly the case on public services, in particular the NHS, but also undoubtedly the case on defence and security and international leadership. We are in a much better state now than we were when we took over two years ago.
And on Burnham he says:
Labour governments have always [prioritised defence and security] and I’m absolutely certain, therefore, that this is a platform on which whoever comes after me can build.
He also says he will do “everything within my power to make sure that any transition is orderly, and that we go from strength to strength”.
Q; [From the BBC’s Chris Mason] General Sir Richard Barrons, one of the authors of the SDR, said Britain is not keeping up with its allies in defence spending, and certainly not with its enemies. Is he wrong?
Starmer says the last government left the armed forces in a hollowed out state.
Defence spending has gone up, he says.
I have to make the right judgements on the capability that I think is right for our country to meet the threats, not just of today, but of tomorrow. And that is what this defence investment plan does.
I think anyone standing back, and objectively, would say this is a massive step forward.
Starmer is now taking questions.
Q: [From ITV’s Carl Dinnen] In the past you have said Russia might attack Nato by 2030. Is there enough in this plan to ensure Britain could fight then if it had to?
Starmer says he does believe that.
That is because of the increase in defence spending that we put in place announced last year, already in place, which was the single biggest sustained increase since the 1980s. And this defence investment plan builds on that. And it’s not just the amount of money, it is also the capabilities.
Starmer says mood in Moscow 'turning against Putin's war'
Starmer ended by talking about Ukraine.
There are clear signs that, as Russia’s losses mount and their economy struggles, the mood in Moscow is turning against Putin’s war.
So this is the moment to ramp up the pressure, backing Ukraine’s defence and turning the screws on Russia’s economy. And that is what we’re doing.
Starmer announces £50bn defence export facility to help defence firms
Starmer says the Dip will make the armed forces more effective.
He says it will also boost the economy.
The government is creating a £50bn defence export facility to support British defence businesses, he says.
And he says the plan will also strengthen the UK’s position with its defence allies.
Starmer says defence spending can't be 'bottomless pit', and MoD has to 'spend better'
Starmer says in the past defence spending “has sometimes been seen as a bottomless pit”.
But this time will be different, he says.
We can’t just spend more. We’ve got to spend better. That includes driving real reforms within the Ministry of Defence to get greater value from our investment, accelerating innovation and procurement, and reducing non-military spending, for example, on civil service staff.
Starmer says he is on course to get defence spending up to 3% of GDP.
We are raising it to 2.7%, putting us on a trajectory to reach 3% in the next parliament, which must be the number one priority at the next spending review.
At last year’s Nato summit, I committed to spend 5% of GDP on our wider security, covering things like energy security and critical infrastructure as well as defence.
The defence investment plan published today takes us to 4.2%.
Starmer says some capital projects on roads and energy being revised to fund Dip
Starmer gives more details of those capital cuts.
It means departments making better use of assets like underused land, and it means those departments with the largest capital budgets contributing more.
Therefore, some capital projects, for example on roads and energy, which are important but not immediately vital, will no longer go ahead as planned.
But this is about taking the necessary choices, the right choices to protect our nation.
And he goes on to confirm the new spending totals.
Now we are already delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the 1980s – £270 billion over the spending review period.
And I can announce today that under the defence investment plan, we are increasing this by a further £15bn, setting a new record of spending almost £300bn over the next four years to back our armed forces and strengthen our national security.
Updated
Starmer says Dip funded by 1% cuts in capital budgets from other departments
Starmer says the Dip is fully costed.
You have some people in this debate who underplay the threat and deny the need to prioritise defence and security.
You also have those who say you can fund defence without making sacrifices in other areas of capital spending, and you have those arguing that we can just raise borrowing.
But let’s be clear defence bonds [an idea promoted by the Liberal Democrats] are just borrowing by another name.
We’ve looked at this very carefully, but the fact is doing this through borrowing would push interest rates higher at a time when £1 in every ten already goes on paying debt interest, and this government has fought hard to bring the public finances under control, and it has paid off, helping to bring inflation and mortgage rates down.
Starmer says this settlement is within the fiscal rules.
The settlement I’m setting out today is the right choice for the country.
It delivers the decisive action we need on defence in a way that is within our fiscal rules, and that will not take resources away from day to day spending on frontline services like health and education.
Instead, this funded by reallocating spending from across government departments, reallocating capital budgets by one penny in every pound, while still maintaining public investment at the highest sustained levels since the 1970s.
Starmer says the Dip delivers on the strategic defence review, but goes further.
And he says he is confident Andy Burnham will build on it.
Ahead of the Nato summit next week, this plan represents our best judgement of what the country needs to meet this moment, and it is a platform on which I know my successor will build.
Starmer says, to preserve peace, Britain must prepare for war.
We want our people to be able to live in a world defined by peace, stability, and the rule of law.
But the paradox of peace is that 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.
Starmer praises Nato, but says European countries must spend more on their own defence.
My view has been the same since day one. 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 in our sovereign strength.
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Starmer also says Ukraine has shown how war is changing.
We also see on the battlefield in Ukraine that the very nature of conflict is changing before our eyes.
Despite having a limited navy, limited traditional air power and limited armour, Ukrainian forces have destroyed the Black Sea Fleet.
They struck deep into Russian territory and stopped the advance of one of the biggest armies in the world.
How have they done that? Through sheer courage, yes, but also by embracing technology.
They’ve integrated drones into their fighting like never before, understanding that the ability to innovate and produce at speed and at scale is more vital than ever to military power.
Starmer says he knows people are worried about the state of world, and the threats to security.
And not all threats are remote, he says.
We see foreign states targeting our nation as well. Thugs hired by foreign powers conducting violence, vandalism and arson on our streets, disinformation aimed at sowing division and stoking disorder, spreading lies and undermining our democracy.
This was in part a reference to the Russian-led plot that led arson attacks on properties linked to Starmer himself.
Keir Starmer is speaking now.
They are at Malloy Aeronautics, a firm that designs heavy-lift drones, and Starmer says this morning they showed him one of the heaviest drones he had ever seen.
Reeves says Dip will raise defence spending by £15bn
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is also at the event. She spoke after Dan Jarvis, and she said defence spending was rising by £15bn.
Last year, I made the decision in the national interest to reprioritise aid spending towards defence and achieve the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the cold war.
That was the right choice because the world has changed. National security is economic security.
Today, we uplift defence spending further – an additional £15bn worth of funding – by again re-prioritising spending across government.
Jarvis says Ukraine has 'completely upended' way wars are fought
Jarvis says the war in Ukraine has “upended” the way wars are fought.
This plan recognises the hard truth that the conflict in Ukraine completely upended the way of war.
In response, today we’re committing the UK’s biggest ever investment in drone warfare; more money for a hybrid Royal Navy, more money to increase the British Army’s lethality, and more money for the next generation Royal Air Force.
This plan reflects both the realities of future warfare and the principles that have kept us safe for generations.
We will strengthen our nuclear deterrent and bolster Nato.
Now, I know that there is more work to do, and we’ve made a commitment to our allies, as they did to us.
And under this government, that promise will be met.
Starmer gives speech on defence
Dan Jarvis is introducing Keir Starmer before his speech on the defence investment plan (Dip). They are speaking at a defence company outside London.
Referring to the Dip, he says:
The central purpose of this plan is to get the kit and technology that our armed forces need, so they can fight and deter now and in the years ahead.
Credit goes to the prime minister, and not only for getting us here today on matters of national security. I’ve seen him make tough decisions and always with conviction and assurance. Under his leadership, Britain has proved itself a reliable partner and a trusted ally.
With our help, Ukraine’s forces are still in the fight and fighting with determination and momentum.
I’m afraid we are not able to open comments today because the moderators do not have capacity. I hope we will be back to normal tomorrow.
Lord Dannatt, a former head of the army, told GB News this morning that, while the defence investment plan (Dip) was “a step in the right direction”, it did not go far enough. He explained:
We’ve waited far too long for this defence investment plan. Now, we haven’t got the full details of it. Some of the details were trickled out overnight, and it looks as if about £5bn extra is being put on the table, but £5bn is not the £28bn that the service chiefs have been asking for, and that’s the figure which would get us somewhere near the 3% of GDP that Keir Starmer was talking about in February at the Munich Security Conference.
So this is a step in the right direction, but it’s not the quantum of increase that our nation demands, and our allies are calling for, and there’s a real funny irony here.
If they got on with this a year ago and put a sensible amount of money, John Healey would still be secretary of state for defence, and Keir Starmer wouldn’t have come under the pressure that is ultimately going to lead him to the exit of Number 10. So, inaction has consequences, and for Keir Starmer the consequences [are] he’s losing his job.
In fact, Dannatt is wrong to say that Starmer is being forced out because he has not increased defence spending enough. Starmer is going because Labour’s results in the May elections were terrible and his MPs think they would do better with a new leader. While the resignation of John Healey did not help his position, it did not have a decisive impact on his survival prospects.
In her story about Andy Burnham’s speech yesterday, Pippa Crerar reports:
Burnham intends to remain living in his family home in Greater Manchester rather than in Downing Street, sources told the Guardian, suggesting he would only reside in the flat above No 10 during the week.
Other news organisations which have had the same briefing have made rather more of this. Radio 4 was running this as one of their main stories on the news this morning, and the Daily Mail has splashed on the story with the intro: “Andy Burnham wants to run Britain part-time from Manchester.”
But it is probably best not to read too much into this intention, however much Burnham may like the idea that he will be able to spend every weekend at his home near Wigan. Prime ministers with constituencies outside London always have a constituency home. But they also find that the job is all-consuming, that it involves meeting large numbers of people, and that it is often easier to do that in London. Burnham may well end up spending most weekends in his constituency. But so did Theresa May when she was PM; she often went back to Maidenhead, in part so she could attend her local church.
The Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty points out that Burnham would not be the first PM to find that the job intrudes on his family life more than he wanted.
I’m old enough to remember that time Keir Starmer said he wasn’t going to work past 6pm on a Friday.
Unite boss to face leadership challenge amid concerns over rise of Reform
Sharon Graham, the leader of the UK’s second biggest union, Unite, is to face a challenge as general secretary over claims the union is not doing enough to challenge the rise of Reform UK, Matthew Taylor reports.
What's in the defence investment plan (Dip)?
The Ministry of Defence has already given some details of what’s in the defence investment plan (Dip), even though the full details won’t be released until later.
In an overnight news release, the MoD released this summary.
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is transforming into a Hybrid Navy, combining autonomous vessels and AI with warships and aircraft, including:
-Type 91: Uncrewed missile platforms to increase the firepower of the Hybrid Fleet.
-Type 92: Uncrewed sense platforms designed to hunt enemy submarines across the North Atlantic, supporting our new frigates.
-Type 93: Extra-large uncrewed underwater vessels which will work alongside crewed hunter-killer submarines to seek and destroy enemy submarines.
-Type 94: Uncrewed sense platforms designed to scan the skies for threats to the hybrid navy or the homeland.
-In the 2030s, we will expand the numbers of the above platforms and bring at least six Common Combat Vessels into service as the brain of a networked Maritime Air Defence system.
-Project PANTHEON: Development of a Hybrid Carrier Air Wing, including trialling jet-powered drones to work alongside our F-35B force.
-Our Royal Marine Commandos will benefit from further investment in their transformation, equipped with new high-speed boats and the latest drone and autonomous technology.
British Army
The British Army is increasing its lethality, including through:
-A major investment into inexpensive expendable autonomous systems and loitering munitions to enhance the lethality of the Army, including a £50 million boost over the next 12 months for the Army’s RAPSTONE programme, funding additional first person view and interceptor drones.
-Uncrewed Ground Vehicles: A new programme to rapidly develop and produce uncrewed vehicles and their associated mission systems for the Army through UK industry.
-Project NYX: Up to 24 autonomous armed drones will be operational by 2030, flying alongside the Army’s recently upgraded Apache helicopters. They will carry out reconnaissance, precision strikes, and electronic warfare.
-Project Corvus: Up to 24 surveillance drones to replace the Watchkeeper system, carrying out intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is transforming, investing in:
-A new, national Collaborative Combat Air programme: The development of new autonomous fighter jets which will fly alongside crewed jets, to defend the UK’s skies with a demonstrator flying by at least 2030.
-Storm Shroud system: Bring our new uncrewed electronic warfare drone into service this year.
And, in another news release, the MoD has given more details of the new “common combat vessels” it is getting.
The Common Combat Vessel will replace the current fleet of six Type 45 destroyers, with delivery expected from the early 2030s. Unlike its predecessors, the new warship will act as a control hub for uncrewed systems - extending the Navy’s reach, resilience and firepower without a proportional increase in crew or cost.
Due to be outlined in the forthcoming Defence Investment Plan, these new ships will replace earlier plans for a Type 83 destroyer. Rather than concentrating capability in a small number of large, expensive ships, the Royal Navy’s shift to a hybrid navy will mix crewed and uncrewed capabilities and be more suited to the pace and nature of modern warfare.
Defence investment plan criticised by opposition parties as ‘too little, too late’ ahead of launch
Good morning. After Keir Starmer agreed to stand down next month to let Andy Burnham replace him, he said that he would not make major policy announcements in his final days in office. But there was one exemption; Starmer was committed to publishing the defence investment plan (Dip) before the Nato summit in Turkey next week, and he took the view that, since it was more or less ready, this was an existing policy commitment, not a new one.
It is certainly a policy that has already consumed vast amounts of goverment time. The government published its strategic defence review (SDR) more than a year ago. The Dip, the plan setting out how much money ministers would commit to defence spending to meet the threats identified in the SDR, was originally due in the autumn. It is finally coming today – but only after triggering the resignation of John Healey as defence secretary earlier this month because he wanted defence spending to rise to 3% of GDP by 2030 – and was not happy about the Dip only lifting it to 2.68% by the end of the decade. The new defence secretary, Dan Jarvis, has squeezed a bit more out of the Treasury, and he will present the Dip in a statement to MPs later.
Before Jarvis speaks, Starmer will give his own speech on the Dip at a location outside London. Here is our preview, by Dan Sabbagh and Kiran Stacey.
Opposition parties are already saying the Dip is not up to scratch. James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, said:
This is too little, too late. Too little because it is barely more money than John Healey and Al Carns resigned over when they said Britain would be “less safe”. And too late because the plan is now almost a year overdue and only being rushed through because Keir Starmer is desperate for a legacy.
And this is from Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader.
This late and underfunded plan is unforgivable. It is a political choice that makes us all less safe, puts jobs at risk and threatens businesses across the country in supply chains.
The government have dangerously short-changed our armed forces when they need urgent investment after years of Conservative negligence. Defence chiefs have been forced to make hard choices, when they should be given what they need.
Andy Burnham needs to go much further and take up Liberal Democrat plans for defence bonds to give our armed forces the investment they need to keep our country safe.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: Lucy Powell, the deputy Labour leader, speaks at a New Statesman conference. Other speakers include Nick Thomas-Symonds, the EU relations minister at 10.45am, Lord Hermer, the attorney general at 2pm and Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, at 4.30pm.
10am: Sir Brian Langstaff, chair of the infected blood inquiry, gives evidence to the public administration committee.
10.30am: Keir Starmer gives a speech on the defence investment plan.
11.30am: David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 12.30pm: Dan Jarvis, the defence secretary, makes a statement to MPs about the Dip.
2.30pm: Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, and Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, give evidence to the Lords communication committee on AI and copyright.
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