Outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday that Britain would spend almost £300 billion ($397 billion) over the next four years to modernize its armed forces amid rising threats.
Starmer, expected to leave office next month after losing the support of Labour MPs, announced the increase in defense spending as he launched his long-awaited 10-year Defense Investment Plan (DIP).
The announcement follows months of wrangling within his Labour government over the resources required to modernize the UK’s armed forces.
The plan includes more than £5 billion ($6.6 billion) for drones and autonomous systems over the next four years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a press release.
Two defense ministers quit earlier this month in a row over the DIP, including Defense Secretary John Healey who said it risked making Britain “less safe”. The resignations highlighted Starmer’s weakening authority.
Healey quit on June 11 saying in his resignation letter to Starmer that the DIP only saw defense spending rise to 2.68 percent of GDP by 2030.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged NATO allies to spend more and become less reliant on Washington for security.
UK media reported that new Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis secured some extra money for the plan, taking the full settlement to £14.5 billion, up from the £13.5 billion put to Healey. That would still be short of the £28 billion that military leaders previously said was needed.
Ex-armed forces minister Al Carns, who followed Healey out of the door last month, accused the then-version of the investment plan of being short-sighted and planning for the “last war rather than the next one”.
Starmer, who hopes the 10-year defense spending plan will become one of his legacies, called the proposals “game-changing investment” in a statement released late on Monday. AFP
