Parties unite in call to boost military budget

RISHI Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer are facing calls from their own MPs and peers to pledge an increase for defence spending in their election manifestos.

The cross-party call comes in an open letter urging the Tory and Labour party leaders to hike spending to at least 2.5 per cent of GDP from the first year of the next Parliament, climbing to 3 per cent by 2030.

The missive, signed by three former defence secretaries and four senior ex-military chiefs, warns that Britain is ‘facing its gravest threats since the end of the Cold War’.

It adds: ‘Absent this investment, British interests could suffer defeat, making the disruption we have experienced in recent months look moderate.’

With an election taking place later this year, it would mean identifying money for a hike within months to secure Britain’s future as a military force.

At present, around 2.3 per cent of GDP annually is being spent, which equates to around £52 billion.

The letter, entitled ‘The Defence Pledge’, was signed by nearly 30 Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs and peers.

Among the signatories were former Tory defence secretaries Ben Wallace, Sir Gavin Williamson and Sir Michael Fal l o n , who arranged the open letter in collaboration with the Council on Geostrategy.

On the Labour side it was backed by Lord West, a former First Sea Lord and MP Graham Stringer, who sits on the Commons foreign affairs committee.

Lord West said: ‘ I would like Labour to commit to 2.5 per cent, but actually we really need 3 per cent.’

Mr Stringer said: ‘Whatever improvements in services a Labour government wants to introduce will be impossible if we end up involved in a war, and the best way to avoid a war is to have strong forces which would deter any enemy.’

James Rogers, co-founder of the Council on Geostrategy, said: ‘During the Cold War we invested more than 6 per cent of our national output in defence — today, when we need to deter aggressors more than at any point since the 1980s, we spend just 2.1 per cent. It simply isn’t enough.

‘The Daily Mail’s Don’t Leave Britain Defenceless campaign is calling for an immediate rise to 2.5 per cent, increasing to at least 3 per cent by 2030.