A government minister has declined to specify when the long-delayed defence investment plan will be published, insisting that “work is ongoing” months after it was due. Pensions minister Torsten Bell told Sky News the plan would be released “when it’s ready”, amid reports of a major funding gap and Cabinet splits.
The plan, originally expected last autumn, is intended to set out defence spending priorities over the next decade. The government has pledged to increase defence spending to 2.7% of GDP from next year, rising to 5% by 2035. However, reports suggest a funding gap of around £28bn in existing plans.
The Conservatives are seeking to force a deadline by pushing a vote on an amendment to the Armed Forces Bill on June 2. The amendment would require Defence Secretary John Healey to lay the plan before Parliament within a month of the bill receiving Royal Assent. Shadow defence minister David Reed accused Labour of having “no plan to keep this country safe” and facing a “£28 billion black hole” in its defence budget.
Former defence secretaries have also criticised the delay. Lord George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary, accused the government of “corrosive complacency”, while former Tory defence secretary Ben Wallace said the prime minister “talks the talk but doesn’t follow it up with funding and action”.
