Witham MP Priti Patel has slammed the Labour Government and Prime Minister Keir Starmer for their Defence Investment Plan (DIP) failing to invest the funding needed to support the military capabilities needed to keep Britain safe. With growing global threats, defence spending by the end of the decade will fall well short of the funding needed, with spending barely increasing as a share of GDP and Labour has no plan to reach the NATO target of 3.5% spend on defence by 2035. The published DIP also makes spending commitments, but billions of pounds to meet those commitments are not accounted for. Priti said:
“The defence of the realm should be the number one priority for any Government, but Keir Starmer and Labour have refused to put the levels of funding needed into our Armed Forces, military equipment and defence. They’ve spent the last two years failing to recognise the levels of threats we face, they’ve let down our allies and have caused Britain’s global reputation to plummet. Instead of funding defence, they’re spending more money on welfare, net zero and £35bn to give to Mauritius as part of Labour’s Chagos Surrender Deal.”
“In these uncertain times, we need a significant increase in defence funding to build up the capabilities needed to deter the threats we face, including from Russia, Iran and China. It is only the Conservative Party which has a clear plan to increase spending on defence to meet our NATO obligations and to protect and defend our country and interests.”
