The Ministry of Defence has said it had to seek an emergency cash payment of £3.2bn because operational costs overran after military operations in Yemen and the Red Sea – alongside Britain’s continued support of Ukraine.
Grant Shapps told MPs the MoD’s “cash requirement for the year exceeds that provided” in last year’s budget and that extra money would be required in an end-of-year supplementary estimate.
“Parliamentary approval for additional resources of £2.45bn and £750m of capital will be sought in a supplementary estimate for the Ministry of Defence,” Shapps said. The £3.2bn would be taken from backup funds until the emergency payment was received.
Whitehall officials said the cash advance was required because of the increased operational spending, reflecting the increasingly uncertain international picture, and that it was a routine request unrelated to any overspending.
Extra money was also needed for people who helped the British military and their families under the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap), they added.
Labour said the Conservatives were failing to secure Britain’s defences for the future. John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, said ministers were “requesting emergency support just to keep their plans afloat” after a long period of cuts in office.
An MoD spokesperson said: “The advances will enable us to continue to deliver our vital operations, including activities in support of Ukraine and security in the Red Sea and the Arap scheme, until the supplementary estimates are voted on.”
It comes days before Wednesday’s budget, with growing pressure in some Conservative circles for a long-term increase in defence spending of £13.5bn to £27bn more a year, at the expense of welfare or other spending.
The former defence secretary Ben Wallace this week called on the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to lift defence budgets from the current 2% of gross domestic product. “We will need 3% of GDP to do what we need to do and to lead in Nato and in Europe,” he wrote in the Telegraph, saying “war is coming”.
Hunt has ruled out an increase in defence spending. He has argued privately that the MoD previously had an £11bn budget increase and that the public finances were too tight to make any further commitments.
The Conservatives have committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP but only when economic conditions allow. This week Labour said it could not make any promises until it entered government. All Nato members have a target to exceed 2%.
Shapps has remained quiet on the topic in public. Conservative sources said the minister, who is said to have leadership ambitions, had been in touch with party backbenchers concerned about long-term defence spending, suggesting issues they could raise. One insider said: “He is good at astroturfing: making a campaign seem like it comes from the grassroots.”
Pressure to increase defence spending closer to cold war levels has increased in some quarters as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East. The outgoing army chief, Sir Patrick Sanders, said last month Britain needed to take “preparatory steps” to put the UK on a war footing.
This week, Sir Tony Radakin, the head of the armed forces, sought to shut down calls for more cash. “Our immediate priority is to ensure the armed forces deliver maximum return for the £50bn we currently receive,” he said.
