The Prime Minister has committed the UK to achieving a defence spending target of 5% of GDP within the next ten years, promoting agility amidst uncertainty. Dame Penny Mordaunt, former Defence Secretary, criticized Labour's defence strategies as unfeasible, asserting that proper funding is crucial for meeting NATO's proposed 3.5% spending threshold. She emphasized the importance of signaling confidence to the defense industry and questioned the lack of substantive financial plans for projects like the Chagos Islands deal, highlighting the overall inadequacy in defence budget management and planning.
I would love it, but as you know, it's not funded. If Puff the Magic Dragon held a cigar party in the Palace of Versailles, you couldn't have any more smoke and mirrors than the Treasury has deployed today.
That's what Nato says we need to do as a minimum, and unless you've got a plan to fund that, it doesn't matter what your ambitions are.
You also need to send a signal which will enable nations to be smarter about their procurement and make the efficiency savings that are already baked into the MoD's budget.
We've still got big questions about how this disastrous Chagos Islands deal is going to be funded, and even which department the budget is going to come from.
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