Sir Keir Starmer has refused to say when the government could hit its “ambition” to spend 3% of GDP on defence amid questions over where the money will come from.
The prime minister told a news conference in Glasgow that he is “not going to put arbitrary dates” on that figure and a timeline will only be set out when he knows how he will achieve it.
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Sir Keir was speaking ahead of the publication of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which will recommend moving the armed forces to “warfighting readiness” to deter growing threats facing the UK.
Sky News understands the recommendations require investment to rise to at least 3% of national income by 2034.
The government has described this as its “ambition” but its current target is only 2.5% by 2027.
Sir Keir on Monday said that 3% is “what we want to achieve” and the government will set a date “when we know exactly how we could achieve it”.
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“I’m not going to put arbitrary dates on that percentage,” he said.
He refused to rule out further reductions to the aid budget to fund the extra increase, only saying: “The best way to pay for an increase in any public spending is to grow our economy, and that is the focus when it comes to defence, or any other spending.”
Sir Keir faced a backlash in February when he slashed the foreign aid budget by £6bn per year to meet the 2.5% GDP defence spending target, which was in Labour’s manifesto.
Justifying more money for defence poses a challenge as the government has made a number of controversial spending cuts to balance the books, including axing universal winter fuel payments and reducing eligibility for disability benefits.
However, defence chiefs have expressed concerns about the preparedness and resilience of the UK’s armed forces amid growing threats from hostile states.
Sir Keir also faces international pressure, as President Trump wants Washington’s NATO allies to spend 5% of GDP on their armed forces while Mark Rutte, the head of the alliance, is pushing for 3.5% by 2032.
‘100% confident plans can be delivered’
The SDR was commissioned by Labour shortly after it took office and carried out by external experts outside of government.
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The full document will be published this afternoon following a statement from Defence Secretary John Healey in the House of Commons.
However, some details of what the government will do have already been announced, including building six new munitions factories and “up to” 12 new nuclear attack submarines, spending £15bn on the nuclear programme in total.
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Sir Keir said he is “100% confident” the SDR could be delivered on current funding plans, saying its terms of reference were set “on the premise that we would be spending 2.5% of GDP on our defence”.
He called the document a “blueprint to make Britain safer and stronger, a battle-ready armour-clad nation, with the strongest alliances and the most advanced capabilities, equipped for the decades to come”.
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He also spoke about a “defence dividend” of the extra billions being spent, saying the plans will create thousands of highly skilled jobs.
However, shadow defence secretary James Cartilage said a “vague” promise to reach 3% “is not good enough… and it calls into question all the promises we’re going to hear today on the SDR”.
The Liberal Democrats’ leader Ed Davey accused the prime minister of showing a “concerning lack of urgency on reaching 3%”.
He called for “cross-party talks to allow us to get to 3% as soon as possible, and faster than 2034”.
