Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged that the government will set out how it intends to go further and faster on defence in the coming weeks, in a wide-ranging essay published on his personal Substack addressing the domestic and international security environment, as pressure mounts from industry and senior defence figures over the pace of delivery.
Starmer described the current moment as one that would “shape our future for generations” and said the UK was facing “a war on two fronts, in Ukraine and in the Middle East, a fractured world, more dangerous than at any point in my lifetime.”
He said the choice facing the country was to “rise to this moment together, become a stronger, more resilient and more united nation” or “sink into the politics of grievance and division, a politics that would make us weaker, less secure, and less able to face this moment of danger and turbulence.”
The government was already delivering “the biggest sustained investment in British defence since the Cold War”, Starmer said, and in the coming weeks would set out how it was going to “go further and faster” with what he described as “radical change to meet a radically changed world.” That would include “working more closely with our partners to strengthen the European element of NATO” and building “the formidable productive power and innovative strength that we need.”
British companies, he noted, already account for over a quarter of the continent’s defence industrial base, calling them “a job-creating, community-building machine” and setting out an ambition to “build a shared industrial base across our continent, with British industry at the heart.”
The pledges come against a backdrop of significant industry frustration, we reported recently that senior figures from across the defence sector warned MPs that the delayed Defence Investment Plan was creating what one trade body director described as a state of paralysis, with some SMEs having exited the sector entirely and some unable to make long-term decisions on hiring, production capacity and capital spending.
Lord Robertson, who led the government’s Strategic Defence Review, accused the government in April of showing what he described as corrosive complacency towards defence spending, in a speech the Financial Times called a devastating political attack.
Starmer also confirmed that together with France and other partners, the government had “brought dozens of countries together to launch a multinational military mission” in the Strait of Hormuz, describing its purpose as being “to give reassurance, prevent escalation, and protect the foundations of our economy” when conditions allowed ships to move again through the strait.
On the domestic security front, Starmer said the government was “going after the peddlers of hate with everything we have, and raising our defences to forces outside the UK who try to foment unrest on our streets, target our society, our infrastructure and our allies.” He confirmed the government was reviewing whether the powers available to law enforcement were adequate for the threats the country faces, and said resources were being surged into policing alongside efforts to tackle root causes throughout society.
The answer to the current moment was not passive government, Starmer said, nor “the populists who look out at the world and offer only easy answers that would make us weaker, or bankrupt” but rather “active, interventionist government, together with active patriotic citizens, prepared to confront reality and do the serious, hard work we need.” He committed to rolling out “a new agenda of radical reform” through the King’s Speech and beyond.
Cool.
So In a few weeks we will see then.
Unfortunately with policiticans you have to read every word looking for sub context, as they can’t help but spin things. Coming weeks could mean next year or equally a week’s time. Effectively we aren’t really any more clear when it will happen.
( I know, It was dry humour )
In coming weeks he will be telling us how many Committees and studies he is setting up to go into the precise details of just how we can use any money that might become available once the DIP is finally published. Because you can bet we will suddenly be informed that it is just a big picture overview of the areas that we should spend money on having taken the Defence Review into consideration, not about actually timely fulfilling this brief. After all the devil is in the detail and it’s certainly taking a devil of a time to do anything so far.
I did have to laugh at the use of the term ‘delivering’ in regard to all this by the way. All it’s done so far, for the most part at least, is deliver costs and delays in the actual process of deciding how we spend what money is left after financing the long drawn out ‘process’. Meanwhile others know what they need without all this and are ordering and upgrading their capabilities even as they along side it research longer term requirements. Let’s hope as they form the first line of defence for us they are up to the job as, if ever it will be years till we are.
Watch Senator Kennedy’s speech about the UK post King Charles’s visit. Most of what he says is bang on the button about the current state of British defence.
Translation: DIP will not be released because it would be full of holes, so i choose a patchwork of announcements will make gov. and myself look good.
“brought dozens of countries together to launch a multinational military mission” in the Strait of Hormuz, describing its purpose as being “to give reassurance, prevent escalation, and protect the foundations of our economy” when conditions allowed ships to move again through the strait.
Translation: our military forces are in fact police forces, so we will only use the military when military action stops.
We also don’t care if the Ayatollahs will have in 10 years an ICBM that can target London.
Geez are you his speech writer, it’s spookily realistic.
Hard to believe a single word that comes out of that mans mouth.
Thats unfair, Starmer has never been proven to have lied unlike Badenoch or farage that are proven to lie almost every time they open their mouths.
You might not agree with how labour are doing things, but lying isn’t one of them.
You do realise that April Fool’s Day has passed …
As i said no a time, the media has been trying to take starmer down from the moment became labour leader, from his horse farm for his parents to curry gate, none of which has stuck. If he lied in anything it would be front page news for the next month. They just can’t find anything. Not saying his the greatest leader ever, but trying to say he constantly lies to the public is in itself a lie.
The word “lie” is difficult to attach to any M.P. because thet all have the ability to not mention the real truth !. As for Starmer he is without doubt the most feeble P.M. we have had in decades. He makes Theresa May look decisive and that is saying something.
Despite his pledge of record investment in defence I’m yet to see a single order for a FJ or frigate, or pledge to increase the manpower size of the services especially RN – or did I miss that?
I have seen the increase in employers NI which will hit the MoD and I’ve seen the increase in civvies at MoD to 61k (plus day rate contractors). I’ve also seen the Afghan resettlement £bns cost being absorbed into MoD on top of pensions and CASD.
We need commitments to conventional capabilities and mass as the current levels are woeful given the threats. Earlier this week there was good news re: Skyhammer – so I hope this is the start. The timeframe should be next 5 years not 10…
I believe Labour have not ordered a single Frigate since the 1970s.
Four TYpe 22 Batch 1 1975-1978. Nothing since. They did manage to sell quite a few and of course cut the number of the T45 from 12 to 6…
Escorts 35 to 23.
Fast jet Squadrons 23 to 12.
Can detail both regards types if needed.
SSN down to 7 from 12, or was it more, I’m hazy there.
I don’t know….damn Tories!!
Both parties an utter shambles without a leg to stand on regards this subject.
Or is it arse.
This sounds good, is there a catch?
Looks like Starmer has hit on defence as a way to distinguish himself from his rivals in Labour.
Oh you great big Cynic you !!!!
Starmer has always “Talked the talk”. 😂
Ha. If so, so not for the right reasons of defence, security, national prestige, or the fact that our numbers have collapsed to way below the number mandated for a post Cold War world in 1997. But as a political ploy!!
Who would have guessed??
Why 1997?
If you look at the graph of defence spending as percentage of gdp per year it was steadly dropping from 1984 onwards, it went up slightly in 1997/98 and started to drop again in 2011/12.
Not sure i can post a link but google uk defence spending as percentage of gdp per year and you will see a statista page showing the graph.
So in fact 97 was a ‘good’ year for defence, marginally
Because apart from 1995, which I could have used, but it was seen as a crap SDR, 97 was properly planned and costed, a good force structure identified, then never implemented.
1991 Options for Change review was unavoidable, and justified.
1995 Front Line First was just a cutting exercise dressed up as improvements.
All the reviews post 1997 SDSR have also been financially led to make savings, not led by military need.
So yes, 97 was seen as “good” but shall I list the cuts it gren lighted? It was still cuts, they all are.
But 97 at least had a plan that made sense with increases in certain areas, like the formation of a 6th Armoured or Mechanized Brigade for the army and the complete renewal of our amphibious capability.
I agree if UK could get back to a 1997 posture then things would be a lot better.
For all the excuses about lethality, numbers of people and platforms are required.
Yes, some of those will be drones but the big hitters are still required.
I sense that UK is still spinning around like a top trying to take on board too many UKR and Gulf lessons.
Yes, drones and automation are needed but no it is not everything.
Starmite is saying the right things but he is such a weak leader he cannot get things to happen which is amazing given the size of the majority that he was elected with.
Part of the problem is that Rachel is so unsure of herself that she is just tossing bones to the left of the party.
The left of the party.
Exactly. Where the REAL threat lies whenever Labour are in power.
Meanwhile 4 out of 100 applicants for reserve forces actually make it through. At this rate Capt Mainwaring will be seen as an unachievable high bar.
🥱
Same old soundbites, “biggest sustained investment” into which you have shoved as many other non military funding requirements as possible.
Announce a plan to increase the RN, RAF, and Army by 1,000 personnel each and that’ll be a start, and replacing the kit scrapped, cut, gapped, retired, since 2020.
I’ll wait. 👍
Unfortunately so far the increase in expenditure under labour has vanished, I assume into the black hole in the procurement budget, which did need filling but is frustrating as increase in orders are needed today as they will take years to come on stream. There just hasn’t been any output to date.
Time will tell if there actually will be by the end of the parliament or if they will do the usual scam of stating aim to increase orders / manpower in the next parliament.
A large element of that in this statement, and it’s timing.
“Look what you could have won….” had you stayed with and voted for me.
Same rubbish as the Tories tried in 2024 with big increases post election, if you vote for them.
Nothing changes.
For balance, I cheered Starmer when he stood up for the two policeman kicking that knife wielding terrorist in the head, after the Greens and Polanski again showed their true colours.
A pity he didn’t raise his voice in support last year, when a female officer had her nose busted and two other officers were assaulted by 2 Muslim thugs at Manchester Airport. They were crucified, and there was unrest in Muslim communities.
CCTV then showed them throwing punches and the officers rightly giving them a good kicking in response.
Politicians, and their sensitive community agendas eh, ignore one when the Muslims appeared to be innocent and condemn when it’s now politically expedient to do so…..
I am really depressed what has come of our country, we used to be the world leader in multiculturism and that has lead to so many positives to our country, no surprise that London is the financial capital of the world and also massively multicutural, and now we have main stream policiticans/media inciting hate. Polanski comments really stunned me, his not been one for that type of thing in the past, i suspect trying to get media coverage head of the local elections in all the wrong ways.
And Starmer is doing exactly the same thing here, ahead of the elections in which Labour are predicted to get a good kicking.
All in the timing, and thus, sadly, all fake for me.
But I’m delighted to be shown to be wrong so lets see.
Agreed, ditto i am hoping we get some news but don’t have much hope. Economy is a mess and about headed for a bigger mess as the Iran blockade issues hit later this year (when it get cold, we rely too much on gas heating). Just not sure where the extra money is coming from. All a shame as we have had sustained growth since labour got in and things had been starting to pick up, but i suspect trump has messed with that with combo of tarrifs and iran.
“I am really depressed what has come of our country”.
Yup so are many millions of others that used to voice concerns as to the multicultural Invasion over many decades and accelerated under Blair.
Welcome to the “United Kingdom” the multicultural experiment gone badly wrong and bankrupted by woke and snowflake, tree hugging, Planet saving, rainbow warriors.
(I know, I’m just kidding 😁)
Defence Expenditure…1990 4.1 %; 2000..2.4%; 2010..2.6%; 2020..2.2%. The biggest question though is that these figures are percentage of GDP. They are not real money, nor do they take in defence inflatiion, currently running at around 10 per cent. Add to the problem all the items that have been added to the budget and we have been going downhill for dacades.
True, but best of the bad options to do it. Real money adjusted by inflation wouldn’t take account of growth of the world economy. Also doesnt’ take account of buying power of respective countries to compare if keeping up with potential enemies. However GDP tends to broadly track inflation and buying power, so broadly reasonable.
Just publish the bloody thing. We’ve waited long enough!!! Defence companies and contractors up and down the Country can’t move forward with investments or taking on new employees or new apprentices because of this delay. They need CLARITY.
I’m sure they have the clarity, I’m sure there has been negotiations in private. The plan will need details of costing and the only way that can be achieved is by talking to suppliers and arranging contracts under NDAs.
All the news about uncertainty etc is aimed at boosting their stock price and nothing else.
Bollocks
You say that Starmer does not lie
He is a top lawyer for heavens sake They manipulate fact ignore the truth and push the lie for the benefit of their clients
How many times has the DIP been promised since the SDR was published 3 but still no DIP? Is that not a lie and also a betrayal
The headline Starmer will set out defence detail doe not say jack as we have had the SDR bur when are we are having the investment
Where is the Defence Investment Plan?
Having now dealt with various legal types for a few years, I can confirm they are all the bloody same !!!
Truth and honesty, Right and wrong, does seem to be missing in Law School these days. 🤔🤦♂️
This man’s a pathological liar
Name a single time his been proven to have lied?
How about every time he claims to have increased defence expenditure to 2.6% of GDP when in reality it has been achieved by moving the costs of the intelligence services into the defence budget?
They said they would increase it by the end of this parliement, we are still 3 years off that. Just because they haven’t delivered it in the timeframe you are looking for, doesn’t make it a lie.
Also NATO rules on defence budget make things compariable, as it doesnt’ matter what the government puts in and out, the same basis is used each year for NATO rules, aka is a semi independent source.
They hide behind % on “Defence” when Defence actually means more than the armed forces.
So the forces continue to shrink, and politicians talk about percentages.
A certain % ringfenced for the armed forces only would be good, voted by all parties, as would a statement from HMG what is the true % spent on the military when a whole list of other funding is removed.
I predict neither will ever be forthcoming.
If I had my way, forces funding and equipment requirements would be removed from the government and made a cross party Parliamentary concern.
In France, officers can state what they need to people who have the power to action those needs.
What power does the DSC have?
None.
None of which addresses my assertion that this 2.6% figure he constantly repeats is intended to mislead because it is not made up of new money for defence. Counting the intelligence services budget as defence spending doesn’t buy a single extra bullet for the services. To claim so is mendacious.
For lawyers and politicians whose stock-in-trade is weasel words, this may not count as a lie; for those he is trying to mislead I say it does.
You asked for proof he has lied: there is just one lie.
Agreed, we aren’t at the 2.6% yet, but equally they said by the end of this parliment, which is 3 years off, so time will tell if they deliver. Realistically there isn’t a massive pot of unused tax revenue just sitting there, and it takes time to rebalance how the existing money is spent.
Just to add.
Chagos payments ( if they ever happen )
The SIA, so SIS, SS, GCHQ, DI is already within Defence.
Pensions.
The DNE, a political tool. The military should only pay for it’s operational costs.
Afghan rehoming, I’ve seen figures from 2 to 5 billion stated.
Pay rises for the military, which came from existing budget, not new money, despite Healey grandstanding that he’d “achieved it.”
Forces homes.
Ukraine money, which I understand was not counted previously?
SSN decommissioning. Does this come from the DNE pot?
Not one adds a single plane, ship, tank, helicopter.
Not one.
It was increased to 2.5%. The additional intelligence budget is part of the latest NATO definition of what constitutes defence spending.
There’s no lie there. By NATO standards it’s 2.6%. By historic UK standards it’s 2.5%. Hardly worth constantly restating in every speech, statement, interview etc
Having read your post, I thought it’d be interesting to have a Google! “The lies of Starmer”
There are a lot of possible options! Half the manifesto went out the window for starters.
All down to your political ideology, as is always the way with the biased media.
But not true, if you read said manifesto and they havent’ broken any of it yet. The classic example stated is the raise in employer NI, but the manifesto just stated increase in tax paid by working people, didn’t say anything about employers.
The media keeps trying to say they have by twisting or misquoting the manifesto. However you will notice by the lack of them running the story back to back for weeks (think curry gate/rainer/etc) that they know its not a accurate and just use the classic asking a question rather than making a statement or misleading headlines and then explanation hidden in the story that no one reads.
Not defending labour here, as i think they have had plenty of missteps so far, but just applying some balance to the misreporting that is common in our media and misleading people.
I like balance, so that’s fair in all cases.
But I have a long memory, and exactly the same was directed at the Tories, by the media and the Labour Party, from wallpaper to Cake, to down a PM. And May before him.
If you throw enough mud, I sticks. Labour and the media are masters at it, so I’ve little sympathy now Starmer is in the firing line.
DO SOMETHIING! Stop demonizing the likes of myself concerned with the size of immigration for starters, both legal and illegal, as the left constantly do towards Farage.
“Peddlers of hate” and “trying to divide us”
NO, we are being divided by YOUR POLICIES, nothing else, and people are fed up with it, state it, and are shot down in response.
That worked so well with David Cameron as well, who in response to UKIP winning unprecedented election wins called them “closet loons” over EU matters.
Dismissed. And so, watch out what happens to you.
The same is about to happen, and the estsblishment scratch their heads in wonder….
Sorry, Steve, I try to be positive and give Starmer praise where he does well, but so, so weak.
King Charles was masterful in the US the other day, a pity the PM is not made of the same stuff.
I may be just a tad cynical, but we have the Scottish Parliament elections on Thursday. It might be a coincidence of course that Starmer has picked today to tell us everything will be okay but….🤔😏
His a policitican, making just you and your colleagues get re-elected is in the job spec. All policiticans do that, can’t really blame them for it. The proof will be in the actual delivery…which we are still waiting for.
Looking forward to it.
I also agree that populism is a big problem right now, no other party has presented a better, or even credible plan yet.
I have got very cynical when it comes to government defence. When it comes I expect it to be a lot of talk and very little show. Until Starmer stands up to Reeves and gives her the facts of life, nothing will happen.
“Corrosive complacency” is an apt description of the Labour’s government attitude toward defence.
All the more telling coming from a Labour Party grandee, former Defence Secretary and NATO Secretary General.
The government’s choice instead is to increase welfare payments.
Weeks um ok, months then, be interesting to read full of ensure this, looking in to that, when money allows, trials/projects but sadly I bet short on the word orders, or commitment. I have no faith in him or the MOD or those in charge for too long its been statements about nothing dressed up as something.
I totally hope I am proved wrong but history and the dithering in the MOD are on my side.
Probably over analysing the situation here but perhaps they are waiting till after the Local and Scottish elections to make defence announcements because they are preparing a series of cuts from other departments to fund increases, cuts that may prove to be unpopular. If so, potentially we might be pleasantly surprised. On the other hand, if this comes to pass, the media is not going to be talking about defence but the cuts instead and, in conjunction with the opposition, will seek to indirectly sabotage efforts to increase the military budget.