Last week marked Armed Forces Week, a time when we can reflect and show thanks to our brave service men and women, our veterans who have served before them, our reservists, as well as the families who support them every single day.
I had the privilege of starting the week at Handforth’s Armed Forces Day (organised by the NAFFI BREAK C.I.C and supported by Handforth Town Council) and rounding off the week, on Saturday in Knutsford, as a guest of The Royal British Legion.
It was great to see so many people at the events, including many of our serving personnel and veterans, some of whom shared with me their concerns about defence spending.
At a time of global uncertainty nothing is more important than protecting our country. I recently made this point during a debate in Parliament on defence spending and readiness, and will keep speaking out on this important issue.
Three weeks ago, the then Defence Secretary resigned over the lack of money going into the Defence Investment Plan (DIP). He accused Keir Starmer of “being unable and the Treasury unwilling” to commit the resources the nation needs to defend the country.
I could not agree more.
I – and my Conservative Party colleagues - want to see the government spend three per cent of GDP on defence by the end of this Parliament. Labour’s plan is three per cent by the mid 2030s – which is too slow. Its proposed settlement for the DIP is £13.5 billion over four years, rather than the £28 billion which officials said was needed to transform Britain’s armed forces to make it fit for the future.
This comes at a time when NATO have said we must now prepare for war with Russia within the next five years. Instead of prioritising defence, the Labour Party prioritise welfare.
Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch has said the Conservative Party will work with any Labour leader in the national interest to cut the ballooning and out of control benefits bill to pay for defence. This is the right thing to do.
We are facing an extremely dangerous time globally. The first job of government is to keep its citizens safe. We must prioritise defence spending.
The outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to publish his DIP this week but it will be redundant before the ink is even dry, as his soon to be replacement Andy Burnham wants his own version. Sadly, neither Labour leaders plan to prioritise defence over their ballooning benefits bill
