Shadow Defence Secretary, MP, said:
“This morning, the Armed Forces Minister repeatedly refused to
match the Conservatives' fully funded pledge to spend 2.5 per
cent of GDP on defence by 2030 – and could not even set out a
timeline for increasing defence spending.
“Labour had a clear choice to match our fully funded commitment.
Defence of the realm is the first duty of any government and Keir
Starmer's Labour government have failed at the first test.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
-
This morning, Armed Forces Minister refused to say when the
Government would spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence.
STUDIO: ‘Good to see you, Minister. Thanks for taking
the time. When will the government increase defence spending to
2.5 per cent?'POLLARD: ‘We've committed to increase
defence spending to 2.5 per cent and the first step in that is
a strategic defence review that will look at the capabilities
that we need to deter the aggression that the UK and our allies
are facing. That Strategic Defence Review will be launched next
week. We need that review to set out…' (Sky News, 10
July 2024, archived).
-
also refused to commit to
reaching 2.5 per cent by the end of this parliamentary
session. STUDIO: ‘And with respect, that
is why people are so concerned about how long this spending
commitment is going to take. Can you here and now give a
commitment that by the end of this parliamentary session, by
2029, that the commitment will be at 2.5 per cent? Can you give
that?' POLLARD: ‘Well, the Prime Minister set out that
we have this ironclad commitment to get there, but he's also
set out, quite rightly, that we will meet that commitment
within our fiscal rules… The only way we'll be able to get to
2.5 per cent of GDP on defence, indeed, the only way we'll be
able to repair and rebuild our health service, our education,
prisons, and the damage done across our public sector is to
grow our economy…' (BBC Breakfast, 10 July 2024,
archived).
-
Labour have refused to match our commitment to increase
defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030.
Labour have not matched out commitment to spend 2.5 per cent of
GDP on defence by 2030 and will instead waste a year conducting
a defence review (Labour Party Manifesto 2024,
accessed 15 June 2024, link).
· Every Labour MP
elected in 2019 wanted to make the Prime Minister – who
wanted to withdraw from NATO, abolish the army and scrap
Trident. Jeremy Corbyn's world view included: abolishing
the army, scrapping Trident, and withdrawing from NATO
(Hiroshima Remembrance, 6 August 2012, link; Hansard,
18 July 2016, Vol.613 Col.575, link; New
Statesman, 29 July 2015, link; Hansard,
14 March 2018, Vol.637 Col.858, link).
· The Deputy Prime
Minister and Foreign Secretary voted against renewing our nuclear
deterrent – and said she has not changed her
mind since 2016. , , and a number of other
members of Keir Starmer's top team, voted against renewing
Trident. In June 2024 also said: ‘I haven't
changed my mind' since the vote (Hansard, 18 July
2016, Division 46, link; The Daily
Express, 27 February 2022, link; BBC News,
3 June 2024, link).
· backed plans for the UK to
disarm and have a non-nuclear defence policy. As a
lawyer, issued a resolution as
Secretary of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers which
called on Britain to disarm and urged the Labour Party to ‘adopt
a non-nuclear, non-aligned defence policy as the precondition for
the preservation and extension of human rights' (The Daily
Express, 23 February 2022, link).
-
The Conservatives committed to increasing defence
spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030,
the biggest strengthening of our national
defence in a generation. We committed to reaching £87
billion a year in 2030, primarily focused on three areas:
firing up the UK defence industrial base, modernising our Armed
Forces, and backing Ukraine's defence (PMO, Press
Release, 23 April 2024, link).
