Defence spending plan delay undermines UK credibility, MPs say
The delay in publishing Keir Starmer’s long-awaited plan on defence spending has undermined the UK’s credibility and left the country less safe, a parliamentary committee has warned.
In a new report critisising the long delay in publishing Starmer’s Defence Investment Plan (DIP), the Public Accounts Committee said this “has undermined the UK government’s credibility with its allies, and its ability to provide a stronger deterrent to its adversaries.”
The committee, which scrutinises public spending, also said the delay “risks squandering the opportunities provided by advances in technology, hindering the government’s attempts to modernise the Armed Forces.”
The DIP was due to be published this week, but Starmer said it will now be released before a NATO summit next month, with an announcement to take place this Thursday. However, it has already been delayed since last autumn.
Committee chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said that those responsible “may argue there are good reasons for the DIP’s continuing absence” but “excuses to the effect of ‘taking the time to get the details right’ simply do not cut it.”
“Whatever the content of the DIP when it eventually does appear, the damage from its absence has been done – to the nation’s credibility, to its safety, to its Armed Forces, and to certainty within its entire defence industrial base,” Clifton-Brown said.
The senior tory MP called for the government ministers involved to apologise for the delay.
“Any government minister attempting to explain away this delay to the DIP should instead ask themselves what message the bureaucratic drift of the past months has given to the public, as well as the UK’s allies and its adversaries, and simply apologise,” he said.
This follows Starmer making a bid to boost defence spending by slashing funding across the government – in particular to net zero, transport, and capital spending.
UK defence industry ‘weakened’
The committee is also seeking action from the ministry of defence to mitigate the impacts of the delay on suppliers, and said it has “weakened” the UK’s defence industry, with small companies in particular impacted.
The report said the delay “has been due to the lack of a decision from the MoD as to which capabilities, infrastructure and people it requires to transform the Armed Forces to be warfighting-ready within the available budget”, as well as failing to secure agreement across the government on the defence spending plan.
Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, deputy prime minister David Lammy said the plan “will be absolutely clear” before the NATO summit next month.