There’s “little question” the UK “will spend 3% of our GDP on defence” within the subsequent parliament, the defence secretary has mentioned.
John Healey’s feedback come forward of the publication of the federal government’s Strategic Defence Overview (SDR) on Monday.
That is an evaluation of the state of the armed forces, the threats going through the UK, and the navy transformation required to fulfill them.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has beforehand set out a “clear ambition” to boost defence spending to three% within the subsequent parliament “topic to financial and financial circumstances”.
Mr Healey has now informed The Occasions newspaper there’s a “sure decade of rising defence spending” to return, including that this dedication “permits us to plan for the long run. It permits us to take care of the pressures.”
A authorities supply insisted the defence secretary was “expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the federal government will be capable of ship on its ambition”, somewhat than making a brand new dedication.
The UK presently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir saying plans to extend that to 2.5% by 2027 in February.
This adopted mounting stress from the White Home for European nations to do extra to tackle duty for their very own safety and the defence of Ukraine.
The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the worldwide assist funds, however there are massive questions over the place the funding for a 3% rise can be discovered, given the tight state of presidency funds.
Whereas a dedication will assist underpin the planning assumptions made within the SDR, there may be in fact no assure a Labour authorities would nonetheless be in energy in the course of the subsequent parliament to should fulfil that pledge.
From March: How will the UK scale up defence?
A press release from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official authorities place has not modified according to the defence secretary’s feedback.
The assertion reads: “This authorities has introduced the biggest sustained enhance to defence spending for the reason that finish of the Chilly Warfare – 2.5% by 2027 and three% within the subsequent parliament when fiscal and financial circumstances enable, together with an additional £5bn this monetary 12 months.
“The SDR will rightly set the imaginative and prescient for a way that uplift will probably be spent, together with new capabilities to place us at the vanguard of innovation in NATO, funding in our individuals and making defence an engine for progress throughout the UK – making Britain safer at residence and robust overseas.”
Sir Keir commissioned the overview shortly after taking workplace in July 2024. It’s being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary basic.
The Ministry of Defence has already trailed quite a few bulletins as a part of the overview, together with plans for a brand new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system often known as the Digital Concentrating on Net, which we’re informed will “higher join armed forces weapons methods and permit battlefield choices for concentrating on enemy threats to be made and executed quicker”.
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PM Sir Keir Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey on a nuclear submarine earlier this 12 months. Pic: Crown Copyright 2025
On Saturday, the defence secretary introduced a £1.5bn funding to sort out damp, mould and make different enhancements to poor high quality navy housing in a bid to enhance recruitment and retention.
Mr Healey pledged to “flip spherical what has been a nationwide scandal for many years”, with 8,000 navy household properties presently unfit for habitation.
He mentioned: “The Strategic Defence Overview, within the broad, will recognise that the truth that the world is altering, threats are growing.
“On this new period of menace, we want a brand new period for defence and so the Strategic Defence Overview would be the imaginative and prescient and path for the best way that we have got to strengthen our armed forces to make us safer at residence, stronger overseas, but additionally study the teachings from Ukraine as nicely.
“So an armed forces that may be extra able to innovation extra rapidly, stronger to discourage the threats that we face and at all times with individuals on the coronary heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make by means of this strategic defence overview are so essential for the long run.”
