£6bn defence boost ‘will not keep us safe’

A RISE of £6billion on the defence budget will not be enough to keep Britain safe, senior Tory MPS have warned.

Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, revealed in yesterday’s Budget that he would be adding £2 billion each year for defence for the remainder of the forecast period. The Budget document said the rise in defence spending was “in recognition of the deteriorating security environment where the UK must be able to deter and defend against increasing threats to our security”.

Yesterday’s announcement was on top of £5 billion that the Prime Minister pledged for defence in Monday’s Integrated Review Refresh. That money included more than £3 billion for nuclear defence, including delivering submarines for Australia under the Aukus pact, while £1.9 billion will be used to replenish munitions stockpiles depleted by donations to Ukraine. However,

defence sources were unable to say how the extra money awarded would be spent in the coming years.

Mr Hunt said: “We will add a total of £11 billion to our defence budget over the next five years and it will be nearly 2.25 per cent of GDP by 2025.”

He added: “We were the first large European country to commit to 2 per cent of GDP for defence and will raise that to 2.5 per cent as soon as fiscal and economic circumstances allow.”

The Budget document reiterated that “the Government’s aspiration over the longer term is to invest 2.5 per cent of GDP in defence, as the fiscal and economic circumstances allow”.

Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons defence select committee, urged the Government to improve its defence posture based on threats, rather than “subject to improved economic outlook”.

He said: “Break these figures down, get away from the smoke and mirrors and you have £1 billion a year for our conventional forces.

“That is not enough.”