Starmer to face Badenoch over £15bn boost to defence spending

Kemi Badenoch pressed Keir Starmer at PMQs over the government’s £15bn defence plan, arguing the military needs at least £28bn and asking why only half that amount had been announced. Starmer defended the defence investment plan as “what is needed to keep our country safe.”

The plan, unveiled after a speech at Malloy Aeronautics, adds £15bn on top of last year’s Spending Review and takes total defence investment over the next four years to £298bn. It will accelerate the drone transformation, boost future fighter jets and strengthen the UK’s nuclear deterrent. The package will also buy 12 F-35As and support more than £8bn for the Global Combat Air Programme, more than £63bn for the nuclear deterrent and £26bn for Project Royal Oak, the naval base upgrade centred on Faslane, Portsmouth and Devonport.

Of the £15bn package, £4bn comes from a 1% reduction in departmental capital budgets, £1.1bn from asset sales, £2.4bn from Treasury support for ongoing international objectives and more efficient defence procurement, £0.8bn from Department for Transport savings, and £2bn from Department for Energy Security and Net Zero savings. A further £4.7bn is still to be funded at Budget 2026.

Sir Keir Starmer’s February 2025 pledge lifted UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027, with an ambition to reach 3% in the next parliament if economic conditions allow. The House of Commons Library puts defence spending at £60.2bn in 2024/25, forecasts £62.2bn in 2025/26 and says it will rise to £73.5bn by 2028/29. The Strategic Defence Review, published in June 2025 and accepted in full by ministers, warned of a “workforce crisis” and included £1bn for integrated air and missile defence.