Wes Streeting says the defence spending plan must be backed by modernisation, waste cuts and better value for money as funding questions linger.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting says the defence spending plan must put value for money first, with the defence spending plan tied to modernisation and a sharper focus on how every pound is used. Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow, he said the armed forces should be backed by a system that is more efficient, while still supporting jobs across the UK.
Streeting said he wants to apply the same approach he used as health secretary, when he argued that he was cutting waste and getting better results from extra NHS funding. He told reporters that investment alone is not enough, and that modernisation without money is not realistic while money without reform is irresponsible. He also said he wants the UK to remain a strong and dependable ally to its partners abroad.
The remarks come as questions continue over how the government will pay for the military rise announced by Sir Keir Starmer in his final days as prime minister. The long-delayed defence investment plan followed a row in government that led to John Healey quitting as defence secretary.
Healey is now chancellor and faces pressure to find the extra funding he had said the previous government had failed to provide. New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has also said he wants to honour the UK's defence commitments, including Nato's core spending target of 3.5% of gross domestic product by 2035. Under the plan, defence spending is expected to reach 2.7% of GDP by the end of the decade.
Pressed on whether he backed the goal of lifting defence spending to 3% by 2030, Streeting said fiscal policy was a matter for the chancellor. He said his arguments for more defence investment were already on the record, but declined to say he would write the next budget himself. Conservative shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge has also questioned whether Burnham will reach 3% in the current Parliament, which runs until 2029.
Streeting said the government had already agreed more than £11.8bn in contracts in the 10 days after the defence investment plan was published. The Ministry of Defence has also faced criticism over waste and inefficiency, including from Labour MP Al Carns, who recently quit as a defence minister during the funding row. The defence spending plan now sits at the centre of a wider fight over spending, reform and how to equip Britain for the years ahead. Why this matters: taxpayers and service members both want defence money to buy real capability, not bureaucracy.
Sources
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