SNP defence spokesperson Dave Doogan has criticised continued delays to the UK Government’s Defence Investment Plan, warning of uncertainty for industry and a lack of coordination within government.
The plan, intended to set out long-term funding following the Strategic Defence Review, has been delayed from its original autumn 2025 timeline and may not be published until mid-2026 amid cross-government disagreements, the UK Defence Journal understands.
Doogan said the delay was undermining confidence across the sector. “Our defence sector needs confidence in the future to underpin investment and recruitment plans,” he said.
He added: “The DIP is now late to the point of farce. Ministers claim this reflects their desire to get it right rather than on time however the public and the defence sector have a right to expect both.”
Doogan also pointed to tensions between departments as a key issue. “What is clear over the last year is that with every draft iteration the MOD produces, the Treasury tells them to think again. This reveals an alarming disconnect at the heart of government presenting severe and enduring consequences for defence.”
Officials have indicated the delay reflects the need for agreement across government. Ministry of Defence Permanent Secretary Jeremy Pocklington told MPs the plan must be aligned with wider spending decisions, saying it would be published “as soon as we can.”
The delay has drawn wider concern from parliamentarians, with MPs of all parties warning that uncertainty is affecting suppliers, investment decisions and employment across the defence sector. The Ministry of Defence has said it is continuing work on the plan and that it will be published as soon as possible.
The delay is also affecting the UK’s ability to defend the country, international reputation and places any deployed sons and daughters of ours at unacceptable risk. This delay is a a disgrace!
Sounds like No 10 need to make a decision on defence budget to me, the DIP cannot be a reasonable document until you know what the budget will be. It’s a case of when we get to 3% and then 3.5% of GDP, the treasury should not have much say on the investment paper other than each year the budget which should have been decided long ago
They are working on a plan? Is it going to be one that they re-examine and re-assess every 10 years to eventually be ‘trialled’ for a 10year period with an eventual re-assessment by about the 2060’s.
I probably expect so.
The DIP is far too complex a construct. We used to have a 10-year Long Term Equipment Plan (LTEP) that set a monetary figure for current and next 9 years against each programme and project regarding procurement. LTEP was produced quite quickly after SDR/SDSR and Treasury was not that obstructive, as they had already agreed the current year overall figure and were OK if subsequent years were not going to break the bank ie if they were reflective of annualised normal increment to allow for inflation and if total cost for a project or programme was within that which had been set at the outset of that project.
This DIP, as I understand it also includes defence infrastructure which must have previously come under Defence Estates.
The sole interest of this government is to reduce British military capacity with cut after cut, even with two wars affecting Great Britain currently underway. They are not interested in halting the cuts and immediately beginning the urgent rearmament that an increasingly disarmed country needs. All other countries of any significance are rearming in light of the situation, except Britain, which is disarming.
Very likely we will see contentious compromises on one or more big ticket items. I saw a report that Ajax will go ahead. This assures jobs in S.Wales and avoids adding +£5b to the budget for a replacement. One saving being touted is to defer the OSD for T45 and the building of T83. So long as the FAD development is funded that might not be too bad. If Bastion, MCMV motherships and GBAD are priorities MRSS could be a casualty; where would it rank against more fast jets and A400s? Meanwhile we see some drip feeding of individual ‘small’ orders e.g. NMH and RCH gun barrels; Land Rover replacement might be the next one to surface.
There are two major conflicts ongoing where some of the belligerents involved see the UK as an enemy.
Iran is coming up with many surprises. It appears their Khorramshahr-4 missile may be capable of 4000km range (albeit with a smaller warhead)
If true, that would put our lack of GBAD in the spotlight.
So why is there no sign of urgency coming from the MOD or the treasury?
Good job that we are not involved in the offensive part of the Iran conflict, we would have run out of ordinance within days.
All the past 3 weeks have done is shine a light on how our capabilities and readiness have atrophied so much that we
are only good for fighting very short conflicts against 3rd world nations.
And they’re delaying it yet again so they can learn about this conflict, meanwhile, I’m sure there’s unrestricted borrowing going to Benefit Scroungers and Welfare, cos fuck you workers.