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.
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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.
In the coming weeks, months, years, decades and centuries.. decisions will be taken.
In the fullness of time at a propitious moment.
Now Now, give the guy a break, he has spent his time wisely and written an “essay” to publish ( I would have prefered the DIP with some cash behind it)
Well, the timing actually looks clear.
Parliament is prorogued just now and the next Parliamentary session begins on 14 May, with the State Opening of Parliament. The King’s Speech normally happens that day IIRC, so.we should hear something from the PM then.
I would think it will be big-picture stuff about security, joining the EU’s Ukraine fund etc. But he will have to state what HMG plans to do about defence spending this coming session, as the DIP will be coming along any month now and the House needs to know what’s on regarding legislation.and allocation of parliamentary time.
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.
I actually liked May.. I thought she had a Shite stick to manage, but she was sound and actually had the correct idea.. she was the only politician that actually tried to sort out the national cancer that is social care.. in that she was brave told us the public what was was actually needed and not some “ opium pipe induced fantasy” and what did we do, the voting public fucked her over for it. We get the politics we vote for, we refuse to vote for anyone that tells a hard truth… touch pensions even for the wealthy.. fucked over..winter fuel or social care and using your assets… fucked over..NHS and defining limits of care ..fucked over… putting up any tax what so ever to pay for the things we demand as a right.. fucked over.. say something we don’t agree with.. fucked over…it goes on and on.
Lol.
Good rant, I’ve missed your great posts, you’ve been a little quiet of late.
May problem was she was too weak, she was too afraid to stand up to the hardcore sections of her party (parts that became reform) and that resulted in Boris finding a way in and the rest is history. The issue with policitics is the more extreme side of any party left or right tend to be the loudest and the least willing to compromise.
May tried to make everyone happy, and succeeded in making no one happy
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.
I’ve just checked out the R.N. for the above. Very equal between them. 😠 Labour 13 escorts, Tories 12; SSN’s 6 each. Who says politicians can’t share. 🙃
Morning M8. Isn’t that a bit of a Red Herring statement ? Since the 80’s the 20 / 30 year cycle of development, ordering and building isn’t really determined by Politicians ethics but pure absolutely Self serving Political necessity. In other words it doesn’t matter which party is in they do nothing unless the political consequences of not doing so far out weighs the temptation to do nothing (see 2014 Scottish referendum for details).
Yes you are right that Labour haven’t ordered (ie signed an actual contract) for Frigates since the 70’s but to be fair in the Blair / Brown period they didn’t actually need to due to the relatively new T22s and being only half way through the T23 build. And the present lot have nowhere else to build any more any time soon !
What they did actually have to order in their previous period in office were the replacements for the T41 AAW Destroyers, Amphibious Ships and Carriers plus get the Astute programme going.
In addition to that the programme of development for the GCS which led to the T26 was carried out in their period in office and the intention was to order 13 T26 to follow straight on from the 8 T45’s.
Unfortunately “Call Me Dave” got in ! He promptly cancelled the last 2 T45’s, ordered 5 OPVs instead (which buggered BAe on the Clyde) tried to cancel the Carriers (got a shock when he realised the cancelation costs were eye watering), dithered about ordering the 7th Astute (got told by BAe and RR that meant bye bye CASD and the U.K seat on UN Security Council), then he cut the 13 T26 to 8 and bribed Scotland with 5 T31 instead.
Bottom line is we have a Political Elite that don’t give a damn about Defence just what “Focus groups” tell them will be popular.
John Major has just called the lot of them out Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer all very similar and inept.
Can you actually tell me which one of these has actually got anything right about Defence ? In fact I think 2 of them should probably by singled out for vilification Blair (got us into the Sandbox based on lies) and Cameron who just carried on with it, that sucked the life out of the Defence Budget for 15 years. Why do you think we are suddenly having to spend an absolute fortune on renewing the DNE and all the maintenance facilities ?
Starmer may now just be in a position where he has looked at the Polling Data, realised that Defence is now 3rd in the “must do more” and what’s worse is he is facing Tsunami of job losses. It’s Political squeaky bum time and he knows it, IMHO opinion he has exactly 2 options he can let his Party boot him out or use his constitutional power to force a change in direction and stay in charge.
So we await the kings speech on Wednesday 13th to see what he actually commits to ! If he actually has a pair then he may just have to play rough to carry out those major changes by getting the ultimate PM Nuc option out. He has a massive majority but Labour has awful polling figures, he can just threaten to call a General Election to get them all back into line.
Which means 350 unemployed Labour MPs and Bye bye nice job for David Lammy and most Labour MPs and what is worse theh all lose access to their really nice £9 Rib Eye steak meal with all the trimmings in the 19 subsidised Restaurants / 9 Bars in Westminster.
Odd no one in the UK press mentions that little tit bit, but then as guests they get to enjoy that little perk as well !
As a matter of interest and it’s not my area of expertise other than urgent operational requirements needed for the Sandbox wars what New Army equipment was ordered by the Conservatives between 2010 / 2024 that has actually entered service ? I’m damned if I can think of much 🤷🏻
Happy Sunday !
Good post.
Hi mate.
A slight correction if I may.
Bob Ainsworth cancelled T45 7 and 8, not the Tories a few years later. They cut the 4 batch 3 T22s re the surface fleet.
Army kit….? Blimey. Apache E. First of upgraded M270. Boxer. Challenger 3 shortly, probably plenty if given some deep study.
If one looks back at the period 97 to 2010 Army programmes were cancelled across the board so there is catching up to do everywhere, as you noted with the DNE infrastructure.
Starmer, Kings speeches, defence now in vogue, all the political bullshit, I believe it when it happens, I lost any faith in our political class long ago.
Hi M8, Yep I boobed on Bob Ainsworth, but as for the Kit I did say “New” so as Apache E are rebuilds, as are the M270 and CR3 so that leaves Boxer which a lot of folks think was a mistake. Then again it’s nothing compared to Ajax which was down to Labour in their last days. One does have to wonder just how much of these decisions are down to the Politicians and how much down the MOD or the whim of a service Chief.
The thing is if you take a real long term view on things U.K. defence wise there are a whole gaggle of Numpty PMs from Major (cancelled B3 T SSNs), Blair (drained the life out of most things so he could suck up to Bush and got 000s killed) and then Cameron who just decimated everything that was left !
Starmer so far isn’t in that August Company of fools as so far he hasn’t done anything wrong as he hasn’t done anything at all. But he does have his own chance to join them 🤷🏻
Morning mate.
It’s good that you remind that the SSN debacle went back to Major, I don’t usually recall the planned batch 3 T class. That’s what created the gap that almost caused the collapse, then? And EB called in to help with the first Astute.
Yes, our politicians have collectively failed for decades, which is why I vote for none of them!
Fair enough on Army kit.
What i really dislike here is the party tribal politics in long term considerations on Defence, as both to me are as bad, as I’ve tried countless times to point out.
Starmers inaction while talking big is his main fault, of course it’s not his fault that the RN’s fleet is literally falling apart. He’s made a few small contributions with the Waves and the LPDs. Argus and the T23s were knackered anyway.
A sad state of affairs. I’ve no real faith he’ll do much as who in his party replaces him is even more terrifying.
For me, politicians are utterly obsolete, and a nation should be run by the best in various fields, not HR lawyers with an ideological agenda.
9 pound rib eye steak.. that’s it I’m going into politics big time.. sign me up for that graft..
RMJ, it is said that the Chagos deal is covered by the Defence Vote, also certain non-Defence Intelligence and possibly support to Ukraine.
I understand that 70% of the Chagos cost, had the deal gone ahead, would have been borne by the FCDO, not defence.
I agree Steve, we can certainly accuse them of incompetence, feet dragging and bend a few commitments but as yet they give has been honest and has certainly not lied.
True they just haven’t done anything other than annoy us lot ! And let’s face it “the largest increase in Defence spending since the end of the Cold War” isn’t a lie it’s just completely over stated as the bar is set at 0 😏
They all bend the truth! I know I’ve spent 44 years in the defence of the UK and even after retirement I’ve still waiting for my pension. All have risked this country all are disingenuous and all need a kicking. What would do them some good would be to spend 6 months in in uniform so they can see the mess that results without a credible plan and cash!!
The previous government didn’t bend the truth it outright lied, they lost one PM for misleading the house and another for the greates incompetence ever seen in a British PM.
In that case why did he not volunteer himself to the Parliament Privileges Committee or at least give his MPs a free vote to do so. What was he hiding?
Governments don’t give MP’s free votes on matters that directly affect the governments ability to rule.
This is just party politicking by the conservatives and lib Dems ( which is there job) and it’s the governments job to vote it down ( which they did)
If he had the courage of his convictions then he would of gone to the privilages committee. After all he had nothing to hide … or did he. The Conservatives gave their MPs a free vote and Boris went. It was Starmer who stood on his pious rightiousness and lambasted Johnson in parliament. It appears the rules do not apply to him.
Not really. It would just give the telegraph / daily mail / express / GB news months of ammo, making up stories and then result in him being cleared. Look at rainer, the result was she made an innocent mistake but the said papers forgot to post that part and just focused on the story they wanted to make.
If we had a law that the media was accountable for publishing accurate and honest stories and responsoe for reporting the news not driving it, then politics would be less of a mess. Instead we have a media that spins / misleada on a daily basis to influence things in favour of their wealthy backers.
If that was the case then there would of been a far more detailed and forensic challenge prior to the run up of the last election if Labour. Labour got an easy ride as the media dismantled the Tories.
Your kidding right? Labour got destroyed in the media, they kept trying to find dirt on Starmer and kept twisting economics to say all their policies would ruin the economy, and yet so far the economy has done well under them and still nothing has stuck on Starmer. The conservatives got themselves into a position of being unelectable and even their client media couldn’t hide the corruption and mess they were causing. Ironically most of the people causing that mess are now in reform and somehow their history seems to have been forgotten.
I was not intending on writing a comment but…. Are you really a human? , do you actually come from this planet?
I was almost sick looking at his face when I opened ukdj…… Well…………
‘The twelve lies of Keir Starmer’, Camilla Tominey 12 Dec. 2025
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.
M8 if you think Labour are left you need to look at the Greens / SNP ! Daft as it sounds I’m glad Derbyshire isn’t voting this year as it’s a case of “not them, not them and oh hell no not that lot”.
IMHO if we had a GE we would be worse off than right now, Reform with about 250 MPs would be the biggest Party so not enough to form a Government. So it would come down to about 100 Tory, 75 Labour and 60 Lib Dem’s, 60 Greens and 45 SNP to decide who runs the country.
The general thinking in the Labour / Tory political mindset is to avoid a GE for the next 3 years and see how Reform and Greens actually do when running local Government for the next 2 years ! Just remember as of 1st April 2028 all of England’s local Authorities change and we have new elections.
Derbyshire is a Reform run Authority (yep I voted for the head of the Council) and so far it’s a real disappointment with a lot of over promising and under delivery or 180 degree about face on some big promises. It’s not looking good, rates put up to the max, 6 councillors had to be replaced and more cuts on the way but at least the pot holes are getting fixed.
Hi mate.
I said the left of the Labour Party. I know full well there are more centre elements and a right of the Labour Party as well, who are currently in charge.
Greens and SNP, yes. I raise you further with the SWP and whatever Corbyn has called his new outfit.
The attempts at some cuts to the welfare state were resisted by the left of the Labour Party, the Home Secretaries attempts at being tougher on asylum seekers are being resisted by the left of the Labour Party, more money for Defence is being resisted by the left of the Labour Party. Need I go on? It’s the same old broken record and I consider them a danger to my country, same as the Greens, SNP, and the SWP.
Yep the 97 defence review was seen as the gold standard.. you can shift it around a bit for improvements in systems and capabilities but the 97 review set down the mass needed for a unipolar post Cold War world.. it should have been the hard floor of mass in deployable brigades, fast jet squadrons, SSN numbers, surface fleet numbers.
Basically anything below those numbers is essentially fantasy fleet, fantasy airforce and fantasy army…you can pretend you can defend the nation with lower numbers but your really just smoking an opium pipe… which means we have essentially been living a fantasy since about 2000.
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 😁)
I didn’t comment on Steve’s multicultural point, as that is opening a biiig can of worms on a defence website.
I’d post more but it’d upset too many on here, and I’m not in the mood.
I find being a Halfwit helps.
Only a fool argues with a Halfwit !
Interesting things I’ve learned today in Somerset.
Cadbury Castle has no Castle and no Chocolate.
Ham Hill has no Ham.
Cheddar Gorge tastes like Stone.
Milborne Port has no Port.
Win-Can-Ton Is not the ancient Chinese capitol of Wessex.
I think that Tourists are being duped here
🤔😁
If you pop a bit of the limestone from hamhill and cheddar between a couple of slices of bread..and have a nibble you will find you break your teeth…
I would not put your multicultural woke snowflake in the same place as your planet saving rainbow warriors.. I know a few planet saving rainbow warriors who will happily tell you the answer to saving the planet is the extermination of about 90% of the human race..
To be fair, that’s not a bad plan.
Just 90? Make it 99%.
Why doesn’t he use his breast inflating powers to mind meld everyone to be better to their neighbours. I am one of those old school former Green supporters who aren’t taken in by the nebulous superficial bs spewed out by someone very adept at expressing whatever ‘committed’ role he has taken on this time. His one learned skill is to be able to respond to questions without making the listener aware of the cogs slowly turning over as the average politician these days tries to remember the corporate campaign headquarters message. Can see how it’s superficially appealing to the gullible. Reminds me of my former Maoist brother (turned filthy capitalist) and other student activists from the 60s/70s who went to art school because it was trendy rather than because they actually had any artistic talent, or even interest. As a product of Hornsey Art College myself (knowing its historic role in such matters) I find myself rather tuned in to these naive populist activist types convincing themselves they own the secrets of forever human bliss and mutual understanding.
The thugs were doing a great deal more than fighting back – one of them tried to get hands on a firearm.
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. 🤔🤦♂️
You only have to look at how the finest legal minds took ££££ to hide, bend and obscure the truth. Then hundreds of judges not spotting it.
Sounds like a conspiracy theory?
See The Post Office Enquiry for excruciating details of lawyers obviously and clearly lying.
Truth, honesty, right and wrong are not the guiding principles of law.. simply what is written and how it can be interpreted.
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.
They have had two years to start that rebalancing and have delivered precisely zero other than moving a chunk of aid back to defence but at the same time wedged a whole load of non defence into the budget to make it look bigger.
It does seem that way but we don’t know. Government expenditure will be tied to contracts and commitments. Considering almost all public services are delivered by private companies these days those contracts could be 5 years or longer. Have to wait and see what the plan states to judge.
Not really.
Contracts do generally run in 5 years cycles but the start dates are staggered otherwise hte procurement teams would go crazy for one year and sleep for four years…..
True but they have also had to deal with their headline policies of workers rights, renters rights, house building, lowering NHS waiting period. Those are all vote winners and so needed to be done first politically but agree defence should be a higher priority but it just isn’t for voters.
@Steve
Housing is part of the Net Zero policy – soon there will be zero new homes built.
Citizen Khant has lead the way with this, super successful policy, in London!
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.
You are wrong there. The actual spend for FY 2024/5 was 2.34% of GDP. By the end of FY 2027/8, it will be 2.5%. That rise is the result of HMG committing to an extra £14bn towards the defence vote. So nobody has lied about anything so far.
I think you may be misunderstanding the corellation with the Security vote. A certain part of the defence budget is classed as ‘security’. I think it’s something like £360m a year. That is being taken OUT from the defence budget and put under this new security budget, which is aiming for an increase to 0.1% of GDP.
So we will have 2.5% for defence.
And a further.0.1% for security.
Total 2.6%.
I cannot understand where you see a problem with getting more money for defence and I also can’t see that anyone has lied about anything. It.is a plan, it may have to be scaled back if economic conditions go south because of Hormuz. Truth and lies don’t really come into the picture.
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
Submitten, the increase to 2.5 or 2.6% is scheduled to occur in April 2027, not now. It is currently 2.2 or 2.3%.
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.
Who would have thought that our 1st ever PC concerned, environmentally focused, Arty Prince of Wales would turn out to be a Politically Savvy, switched on, UK Secret Weapon.
Best argument for our Constitutional Monarchy since George V in 1911 when the King agreed to ram democracy down the throats of the House of Lords !
FYI the Lords blocked a Budget containing the OAP and a massive Defence budget brought in by the Liberals as it meant them paying extra Taxes. So the PM spoke to the King who agreed that he call a GE and if he got a clear mandate the King would threaten to create 100’s of new Liberal Lords. Result was the 1911 Parliament Act when the Lords lost the right to veto Parliament and we got the OAP and a massive Defence Budget (left and right both happy).
Hi mate.
I had no idea of any of that history! Fascinating, thanks for this.
and it was Winston Churchill as a liberal forcing through the benefits and pensions in 1911 😀
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.
Atleast this will mean an end to the DIP saga one way or another, I suspect if Starmar is attaching himself to this directly it won’t involve a big cutting program otherwise he would have allowed the defence secretary to deliver it although it may involve tax rises.
Big question will be does Starmar survive long enough in office to deliver these announcements.
Indeed, the next PM in the queue may well de due to review the review I fear, especially if it’s Rayner.
Really? Believe a member of the Lawyers Cabal? Will Rayner or Streeting or any Fabian honour it anyway?
Not worth energy ranting, needless to say I find Hermers fellow lawyer standing in front of our flag deeply offensive. Hunt veterans and not the real terrorists? Farcical, nothing but political scum.
👏 👏 👏 👏 👏
OK, I’m not holding my breath in anticipation, but I’m not going to prejudge say it’s all going to be shite..
What I do think is the DIP is dead.. to be honest I’m not surprised, I understood why they tried to do it, a more dangerous world needs a plan right ? But that’s only if the danger is actually stable, there is almost no point developing a long term 10 year plan for a world falling into utter catastrophic chaos.
I think that is why the DIP was really essentially constantly binned.. the security situation is now changing month on month.. shifts that took a decade are now happening within a year..
Yes some programs need some long term planning.. but even things like ship construction now need to fast and iterative..
Hi Jonathan, I agree, best to wait and see what comes of it, I also agree the DIP was too ambitious a plan. All I want to see is a ten year equipment plan with a contingency. I think we just need to accept the industrial integration can’t be done. There will be limits as to how much equipment we can get that’s UK supplied and I’m fine with that, as long as we make our own warships, submarines, fighter jets and missiles I can deal with us having to collaborate with other international programs and buy some capabilities off the shelf from Allie’s.
The endophobe Starmer is only interested in persecuting anyone who speaks the truth. If you say that the United Kingdom is completely invaded and that there are areas where there are no British people left, he will persecute you. He will spend whatever it takes on that; he won’t spend a penny on defending the country.
Bollocks
Miki, that is rubbish.
One thing we must do is undertake a massive recapitalisation of our armaments industry so we can supply our own needs for all critical capabilities…
Just this week the US has essentially told everyone sorry we have burnt all our stocks and out industry is now just build stuff for the US until we have rebuilt the levels we need.
Sovereign capability is all.. if it’s critical you need to build it.
From the FT
“The Pentagon may now need to fight a long war in the Middle East and it’s also desperate to shore up deterrence in the Indo-Pacific,” said Tom Wright, a former official in the administration of President Joe Biden who is now at the Brookings Institution. “It’s more than willing to throw Europe under the bus to do that. Europe needs to rebuild its own defence industrial base at warp speed.”
2.61% by 2090 incoming.
I’ve just checked out the R.N. for the above. Very equal between them. 😠 Labour 13 escorts, Tories 12; SSN’s 6 each. Who says politicians can’t share. 🙃
Or you could say,
They are both as bad as the other.
😁😁😁
More empty words from the PM. By contrast the authors of the Strategic Defence Review have themselves been very scathing recently. Lord Robertson has accused the government of “corrosive complacency” while General Barrons has commented that the MOD has gone backwards since last June.
Expect the detail to be a lot of hot air about allies doing this and that and missing the fact that the UK won’t put it’s money where it’s mouth is.
More ships are unlikely but I expect to re affirm the frigates as if it was all the governments idea.
That last paragraph is scary.
Oh really 😴
It’s just huff and guff. Where’s the DIP? Sorry, but the fact that we are now down to 5 operational frigates is criminal. Labour deserves to have its bottom spanked at the elections. Do any Labour MPs even read this journal?
Good Day,
Subject: Royal Navy left with 5 frigates!
How is the government reacting to this? For example, Prime Minister Starmer and his defence minister? They certainly can no longer turn a blind eye to reality.
Nick
Ha! Watch them
Is my post ever going to clear moderation?
I suspect the PM will announce new investments in Defence related Industries infrastructure, more research and more apprentices and the like, but little if any new contracts for Defence equipment for the 3 Services. He will hope this will get the support of the Unions but militarily will not result in any significant increase in improved military capabilities. Some of the industries could have military and civilian applications possibly around AI and reaching net zero this could include small nuclear reactors protection of undersea communications and maybe new satellites for monitoring activities around our critical infrastructure but little improvement in our war fighting capabilities and even these improvements will be spread over a number of years and easily kicked into the long grass when the next NHS crisis hits..
Long since time to cease the net zero subsidies and re-arm:
‘In the period 2002 to the present, the total cost to the electricity consumer of those renewable electricity subsidy schemes that we can quantify has amounted to approximately £220 billion (in 2024 prices), equivalent to nearly £8,000 per household. The annual subsidy cost is currently £25.8 billion a year, a sum equivalent to nearly fifty per cent of UK annual spending on defence. Subsidy to renewable electricity generators now comprises about 40% of the total cost of electricity supply in the United Kingdom.’
‘But what about CO2 causing climate change?’
It isn’t.
‘Forty-six scientists tied to the IPCC have stepped away or spoken out because their evidence-based views clashed with the official alarmist script.’
Dr. Lucka Bogataj: “Rising levels of airborne carbon dioxide don’t cause global temperatures to rise…. temperature changed first and some 700 years later a change in aerial content of carbon dioxide followed.”
Dr. John Christy: “Little known to the public is the fact that most of the scientists involved with the IPCC do not agree that global warming is occurring. Its findings have been consistently misrepresented and/or politicized with each succeeding report.”
Dr. Rosa Compagnucci: “Humans have only contributed a few tenths of a degree to warming on Earth. Solar activity is a key driver of climate.”
Dr. Richard Courtney: “The empirical evidence strongly indicates that the anthropogenic global warming hypothesis is wrong.”
Dr. Robert Davis: “Global temperatures have not been changing as state of the art climate models predicted they would. Not a single mention of satellite temperature observations appears in the IPCC Summary for Policymakers.”
Dr. Willem de Lange: “In 1996 the IPCC listed me as one of approximately 3000 ‘scientists’ who agreed that there was a discernible human influence on climate. I didn’t…”
Dr. Chris de Freitas: “Government decision-makers should have heard by now that the basis for the long-standing claim that carbon dioxide is a major driver of global climate is being questioned; along with it the hitherto assumed need for costly measures to restrict carbon dioxide emissions. If they have not heard, it is because of the din of global warming hysteria that relies on the logical fallacy of ‘argument from ignorance’ and predictions of computer models.”
Dr. Oliver Frauenfeld: “Much more progress is necessary regarding our current understanding of climate and our abilities to model it.”
Dr. Eigil Friis-Christensen: “The IPCC refused to consider the sun’s effect on the Earth’s climate as a topic worthy of investigation. The IPCC conceived its task only as investigating potential human causes of climate change.”
And so on and so forth…