Labour has denied misleading the public about defence spending after concerns were raised that intelligence spending could be counted towards NATO's 3.5% commitment.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds rejected claims the Government is artificially inflating the defence budget to appear on course for the alliance's new spending target. His comments follow a letter from former Conservative defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace to the UK Statistics Authority, expressing concerns that intelligence spending will be included towards the commitment.
Minister rejects claims of rule-breaking
Mr Reynolds denied the Government is breaking any NATO rules, telling GB News: "These definitions are international."
The Labour frontbencher added: "There's nothing specific to the UK about this. But the idea that we wouldn't include the incredible work of our intelligence services, security services, given the nature of modern threats to the UK, I'm afraid I have no time for this argument at all. There's nothing in it."
Mr Reynolds said Sir Ben's comments were "a little bit rich", accusing the Tory government he served in of "hollowing out" the Armed Forces.
Concerns over NATO-qualifying spending
In his letter to the UK Statistics Authority, Sir Ben said the Treasury had recently changed the definition of what counts towards "NATO-qualifying defence spending", The Telegraph reports. From 2027-28, this will include the "Single Intelligence Account", which at around £5 a year funds MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
NATO's definition of defence expenditure does not allude to intelligence agencies. Sir Ben wrote: "As the world gets more unstable and our allies start spending real cash increases in their budgets, Britain seems to be falling behind.
"Telling the men and women of the Armed Forces and the public that they are spending more while in real terms day-to-day funding on our Armed Forces is being cut is an insult to them. It fools no one inside defence, our allies and our enemies."
Current spending and future plans
NATO members have agreed to spend 3.5% of GDP on core defence, with an additional 1.5% on broader defence and security-related investments such as protection of key infrastructure and resilience. Britain is currently spending 2.6% of national income on defence, set to rise to 2.7% in 2027-28 as part of what Labour has billed as the "biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War".
The Prime Minister said this would see Chancellor John Healey lay out a pathway to spending 3% by 2030 and 3.5% by 2035. However, officials later suggested this will not happen until next year's spending review as previously confirmed. Mr Healey is under growing pressure to set out a path for the 3% figure, having resigned as defence secretary under Sir Keir Starmer over military funding earlier this year, warning Britain would be unprepared for war if spending did not reach 3% by 2030.
