One of the curiosities of Rachel Reeves’s spending review is that the defence budget is planned to rise in 2027 and then to stay at that level. In two years’ time, defence spending is expected to rise from 2.3 to 2.5 per cent of national income, but to rise no further after that. This is despite Keir Starmer committing just days ago to the “ambition” of raising it to 3 per cent “in the next parliament when economic and fiscal conditions allow”.
The prime minister spoke in sombre tones, at the launch of the strategic defence review last week, about the need to prepare for war and for the country to move to a state of “war-fighting readiness”. Yet all his chancellor did on Wednesday to increase defence spending further was to redefine “defence spending” to include the intelligence budget, which takes the plateau to 2.6 per cent.
