Overview
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Wednesday that he will not pledge to raise UK defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030 and instead invoked NATO’s later 3.5% target for core defence by 2035.
- The government’s Defence Investment Plan published in late June raises funding by about £15bn over four years but still projects only roughly 2.68–2.7% of GDP on defence by 2030.
- The plan leaves a material funding gap by requiring the MoD to find roughly £10–11bn of efficiencies and about £4.7bn of unspecified sums to be covered at the autumn Budget.
- John Healey resigned as defence secretary in June in protest at the plan’s timetable and scale, and now as chancellor has warned the published figures fall short of what is needed to ‘future‑proof’ forces.
- Coverage differs on emphasis with some reports highlighting Burnham’s pledge to honour NATO commitments and his focus on social care and youth employment to create fiscal headroom while others flag risks to procurement and readiness given the unresolved funding shortfalls.