Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged yesterday to spend an extra $20 billion to modernise Britain’s depleted armed forces in a long-delayed investment plan that is designed to prepare for the wars of the future and mark his legacy.
In what is most likely his last major policy announcement, Starmer said the increased spending over the next four years went further than a previous draft that prompted his ally, John Healey, to resign as defence minister last month. Healey had accused Starmer of failing to secure enough money to keep Britain safe.
Starmer’s Defence Investment Plan falls short of the 28bn euros wanted by defence chiefs and represents a 5 per cent increase in annual defence spending, which will reach £79bn euros a year by 2029. He will take it to Ankara for a Nato meeting on July 7-8, where he will want to signal that Britain is on the path to meet its commitment to reach defence spending of 3.5pc of GDP by 2035.
But with his expected successor, Andy Burnham, due to take power as soon as July 20, he acknowledged that new governments could “build” on his blueprint.
Some critics said the plan, delayed for more than nine months, was too little, too late.
“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 to think again before they act,” Starmer told an audience at a defence company in southern England.
Starmer said his blueprint would offer funding of 5bn euros for investment in drones and autonomous weapons, create a hybrid navy and make the army more lethal, as part of a plan to make Britain war-ready, especially when military officials have warned that Russia could attack a Nato country as soon as 2030.
It would also strengthen Britain’s nuclear deterrent and bolster a programme to build a next-generation stealth fighter jet for the Royal Air Force, Starmer said, adding that would create jobs and boost growth.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte also welcomed Britain’s plan, saying it was a “good step towards reaching the 3.5pc of GDP on defence agreed in The Hague last year”.
Britain’s biggest defence company, BAE Systems, which has UK sales of more than 8bn euros annually, said the plan provided clarity to the industry.
“The government’s commitment to increased defence spending is vital to sustaining the specialist skills across our industrial base critical to national security,” BAE CEO Charles Woodburn said.
With European nations under pressure from the United States to do more to defend themselves, Nato allies agreed to spend 5pc of gross domestic product on defence by 2035, with 3.5pc on core defence requirements and 1.5pc on broader national security.
The new plan, Starmer said, would take Britain to 4.2pc under that commitment.
While Britain is hoping to spend 3pc of GDP on core defence by the next parliament expected in 2029, Germany plans to spend 3.7pc of its GDP on defence by 2030 and France is aiming for 2.5pc.
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