Minister urged to reveal timeline for increase in defence spending
MPs will have to wait until the spring for a spending plan, according to defence minister Luke Pollard.
A defence minister has declined to outline the timetable for when the Government will meet its “cast-iron commitment” to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.
Luke Pollard said MPs will have to wait until the spring for a spending plan, amid reports the target will not be met by 2030, despite pressure from Donald Trump’s administration in the White House.
A senior Government source told The Times that meeting the target in five years would mean “deeper cuts in the run-up to the election” and “feels like a non-starter”.
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge urged Mr Pollard to “disown such talk”, and Liberal Democrat defence spokeswoman Helen Maguire warned that “promises without a clear path are hollow”.
Mr Pollard said: “This Government has a cast-iron commitment to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence and this Government is already delivering for defence by increasing defence spending.
“At our first budget, we announced an extra £3 billion on spending on defence in the next financial year.”
Mr Cartlidge highlighted the threats from Russia to the UK as a reason to “urgently” increase defence spending.
The Conservative frontbencher, who had tabled an urgent question about the Government’s fiscal policy on defence, told the Commons: “Despite all of the evidence before our eyes of the growing threat, we learned this weekend from multiple sources that spending 2.5% will be delayed beyond 2030. Can the minister first disown such talk, but specifically confirm we will hit 2.5% this Parliament?”
The minister did not confirm the timeline for increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP but said the Conservatives did not hit this target during their 14 years in power.
The UK spent 2.3% of its GDP on defence in 2024, according to the latest Nato estimates.
Ms Maguire said the commitment to increasing defence spending as a share of GDP had “been shrouded in delay and uncertainty”.
She continued: “At a time when Europe faces its gravest security crisis in decades, this is unacceptable.
“Promises without a clear path are hollow and the Government should commit to setting out a detailed and credible plan for reaching 2.5% by Easter.”
Mr Pollard replied: “I have a lot of time for (Ms Maguire) but I would just say, we’ve been very clear and consistent on this.
“We will set out a path to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence in the spring, and could I just remind her that when her party was in Government, in their first budget, instead of increasing defence spending by £3 billion as Labour did, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives cut defence spending by £2 billion and cut it by 20% across the parliament where her party was in power?”
The SNP’s Dave Doogan, the MP for Angus and Perthshire Glens, said: “It’s because of the realisation or suspicion that the arbiter of when and how 2.5% is realised is not the Secretary of State for Defence (John Healey) but the Chancellor (Rachel Reeves), and this is a Chancellor who scarcely understands the fundamentals of economics, much less the fundamentals of defence and the threat environment that these isles are facing.
“So can he explain, what will the path to 2.5% looks like? Is it a date in time or is it when certain criterion are met? And who will be the final arbiter?”
The minister said: “(Mr Doogan) invites me to make the announcement that I’m saying will come in the spring, so can I point him towards the path to 2.5% that will be set out in the spring to answer his concerns?”
Mark Pritchard, Conservative MP for The Wrekin, asked whether the Government would make its announcement before the end of astronomical spring, which ends on June 21, or meteorological spring, which ends earlier on May 31.
He added: “Is the pathway short or long?”
Mr Pollard replied: “The strategic defence review will be published in spring this year and the path to 2.5% will also be announced in spring this year.”
