Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has openly broken ranks with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, demanding a significant increase in defence spending just days before the long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (Dip) is expected to be released. Speaking on the Russian border with Poland, Cooper warned that Britain had become too comfortable with the "post-Cold War peace dividend" and must invest more to ensure national security.
Cooper's Intervention Piles Pressure on Downing Street
Cooper's comments, made in an interview with ITV News, have been described by Conservative Party sources as an "open rebellion" against her own government. She stated: "We do have to go further, we do have to invest more." She acknowledged that the government had increased spending since the 2024 election but insisted that "we are going to have to go a lot further." Her intervention comes just weeks after former defence secretary John Healey quit the cabinet, warning that current funding plans left the United Kingdom less safe. He was followed by defence minister Al Carns, who echoed Healey's criticism.
Defence Investment Plan Under Scrutiny
The timing of Cooper's remarks adds to the pressure on Downing Street, which is due to release the Dip in a matter of days. Conservative sources raged that the plan would "not be worth the paper it is written on" if potential successor Andy Burnham "comes in and rips the whole thing up." Burnham, who has suggested he would back more defence funding, has been coy about how this would be paid for. Cooper explicitly called for spending to reach 3% of GDP, with a longer-term commitment to 3.5%. She added: "We are going to have to do that. I don't think we have any choice as a country."
Impact on Security and Influence
Cooper stressed the importance of defence spending for national security and global influence. "If we want to be strong and resilient in the face of these whirlwinds and storms around the world, we are going to have to do more on securing our defence because that is the underpinning, that security is the underpinning on which everything else we do really depends," she said. She also noted that increased spending would help the UK influence other countries to act in its interest.
