Sir Keir Starmer has set out the long-delayed defence investment plan (Dip), pledging billions of pounds to prepare Britain for war by 2030.
Below are the key points from the Prime Minister’s speech and the Dip.
– Defence spending will increase by £15 billion, funded by scrapping investments elsewhere
Rachel Reeves said the Treasury had provided an extra £15 billion to fund the Dip, above last year’s increase in defence spending paid for by cutting the aid budget.
Some £3.4 billion of that was taken on by the Treasury, which is paying for it by reprioritising and making reductions to other departments’ budgets.
The figure is higher than the previous offer of £13.5 billion that saw John Healey quit as defence secretary, but below the £28 billion defence chiefs have reportedly requested.
Sir Keir said he would not cut day-to-day spending on frontline services to fund the Dip, but had scrapped some capital projects that were not “immediately vital”.
These included some roads and energy projects, he said.
“The uplift will see annual defence spending reach £80 billion by 2029, up from £54 billion when Labour came to power.”
– Defence bonds ruled out
The Prime Minister also ruled out using more borrowing to fund defence, amid calls from the Liberal Democrats and others for the Government to issue “defence bonds”.
Sir Keir said the Government had looked “very carefully” at the proposal, but dismissed defence bonds as “borrowing by another name”.
He said: “The fact is doing this through borrowing would push interest rates higher at a time when one pound in every 10 already goes on paying debt interest.”
– More drones, a “hybrid” navy and a new fighter jet
Learning the lessons from both Ukraine and Iran, Sir Keir has pledged more than £5 billion of spending over the next four years to fund a “drone transformation” for the armed forces.
Some £650 million will be spent on combat and surveillance drones for land forces, which Sir Keir said would help increase the Army’s “lethality” ten-fold.
There will also be funding for a “hybrid” Royal Navy, with smaller, autonomous vessels working alongside crewed ships.
And the Prime Minister pledged more than £8 billion for the Global Combat Air Programme to create a next-generation stealth fighter jet for the Royal Air Force in concert with Japan and Italy.
The new jet will also be supported by smaller autonomous “wingmen”, invisible to enemy radar, he added.
– A £64 billion upgrade to Britain’s nuclear deterrent
Sir Keir said the investment in “renewing” the UK’s nuclear deterrent would include spending on new Dreadnought submarines, a new sovereign warhead and 12 F35-A jets capable of carry nuclear weapons.
The new Dreadnought submarines will see four boats replace the current Vanguard class from the 2030s, while Sir Keir announced plans to buy nuclear-capable jets at last year’s Nato summit in The Hague.
Some of the money for the nuclear deterrent will also form part of a decade-long £26 billion overhaul of naval bases at Faslane, Portsmouth and Devonport, dubbed “Project Royal Oak”.
– A boost for Britain’s defence exports
The Prime Minister announced a “once-in-a-generation” £50 billion defence export facility to help British firms compete internationally.
He said the money would “support British defence businesses to create more jobs and opportunity up and down the country”.
– Sir Keir expects his successor to back his plan
Sir Keir said the Dip provided a “platform on which whoever comes after me can build” amid speculation Andy Burnham could seek to rewrite part of the plan.
He added the Dip was “something which any Labour prime minister would want to stand behind, it’s a platform any Labour prime minister would want to stand on”.
But he did not answer when asked whether Mr Burnham had seen or signed off on the plan.
– Cuts to workforce and spending to save £11 billion
The plans sets out almost £11 billion of cuts the Ministry of Defence is expected to make over the next four years.
But it is understood that the increase in spending power set out in the plan is not conditional on those savings.
They will come from reducing the armed forces workforce – £3.3 billion – as well as cutting back spending on consultancy and expanding the use of technology and digital tools and techniques to boost efficiency.
– Older kit being scrapped
Storm Shadow missiles will be discontinued and replaced by models including the Stratus “stealth” missile being developed with France and Italy.
The Skynet 6 narrowband satellite system is also being scrapped, and its predecessor Skynet 5 extended instead.
Plans for a hybrid navy approach mean type 83 and 32 frigates are being axed, while two type 23 frigates and some of the older Chinook helicopters are being retired.
Some 34 battlefield reconnaissance Wildcat helicopters will be retired from 2027, leaving 28.
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