Either we have to spend less on defence, and say what we will not be able to do, or we have to meet the target Sir Keir Starmer himself set, and say how we would pay for it. Either course makes sense. It could be argued that the prime minister allowed himself to be bounced into setting a target of spending 3 per cent of national income on defence by Donald Trump and the British defence establishment.
As John Healey’s resignation shows, many of his former cabinet colleagues are secretly of this view. They do not think, when asked to make cuts to their own departments, that the 3 per cent target really should be delivered by the end of the decade. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, when asked to choose between softening the target or raising taxes, decided that 2.68 per cent was nearly as good as 3 per cent.
