The wheels have come off Labour’s much-trumpeted Strategic Defence Review after Starmer ditched the pledge to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2034 – the very target on which the review’s 62 recommendations were based. Recommendations that Starmer has now accepted…
Defence Secretary John Healey was rolled out on the morning round to provide little clarity on the government’s plan. Speaking to Times Radio, Healey refused to guarantee the 3% target, downgrading it to a mere “aim”. Healey then refused to rule out tax hikes to pay for the increase:
“We’ll set out how, just as we’ve done with our 2.5% commitment where we have made that tough decision to switch money out of overseas development aid into defence and we aim to hit 3% in the next parliament. We’ll set out how we’ll pay for future increases in the future.”
On LBC, Healey also couldn’t say how many SSN-AUKUS submarines would be built and when, despite promising “up to 12.” The Astute class submarines cost £1.6 billion per warship. It appears the only thing guaranteed is a wave of tax rises in Autumn…
Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked John Healey: “Just finally, I mean Andy Burnham has been very clear he wants Britain back in the European Union in his lifetime. Do you?”
The Chancellor replied: “I’m older than Andy Burnham. I don’t expect to see that.”