Starmer Says UK Budget Can Absorb £4.7 Billion Defence Gap in £15 Billion Plan
Updated
Updated · Bloomberg · Jul 1
Starmer Says UK Budget Can Absorb £4.7 Billion Defence Gap in £15 Billion Plan
3 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Jul 1
Summary
£4.7 billion of the UK’s new defence investment plan is not yet funded and would have to be covered in the next budget, but Keir Starmer said there is enough fiscal headroom to absorb it.
The plan unveiled Tuesday commits £15 billion to rebuilding Britain’s depleted military, with the shortfall buried in the funding details rather than the headline pledge.
That leaves the fall budget to find the money, turning the gap into an immediate test for Starmer’s successor after he said last week that he would step down.
In Parliament, Kemi Badenoch seized on the shortfall as a funding weakness, while Starmer argued Labour would back the wider £300 billion defence investment programme and blamed past Conservative cuts for hollowing out the forces.