Starmer unveils long-delayed defence investment plan with further £15bn for armed forces – UK politics live
Key events
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 shelved 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.
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.
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.
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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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