Sir Keir Starmer is poised to unveil a multi-billion pound package to boost the UK defence industry and armed forces in order to ready the country for war and seal his legacy as Prime Minister, The i Paper understands.
The long-awaited Defence Investment Plan, which was originally scheduled for last autumn but has been held up over Cabinet disagreements about funding, will be published as soon as next week, it is understood.
The plan is expected to be backed by £18bn of government funding for new contracts with defence companies to boost the UK’s weapons capabilities and better equip the country for conflict in response to a decrease in global security.
While the blueprint has been stuck in Whitehall for months, insiders said the Prime Minister now wants to push ahead with difficult decisions ahead of any leadership battle with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and former health secretary Wes Streeting, which could come within weeks.
Starmer is intent on getting things out of the door because “he doesn’t feel like he has anything to lose” and he “wants to have a legacy”, a source said.
The Defence Investment Plan will fund the recommendations of the Strategic Defence Review, which was published a year ago next week, including an upgrade to the RAF Typhoon fighter jet capability and the purchase of new F-35A fighter jets equipped with nuclear weapons.
The Times reported earlier this month that Starmer had been presented with two options for the funding package: £12bn and £18bn.
Defence Secretary John Healey and National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell have been pushing for the higher figure, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves has resisted this.
And The i Paper understands that Starmer has been set on building a lasting legacy ever since the leadership crisis triggered by more than 100 Labour MPs calling for him to quit and the resignations of Streeting as health secretary and several other ministers.
If, as is likely, Starmer approves the £18bn increase in defence spending, which would be spread over the next four years, it would push the UK’s funding of defence closer to 3 per cent of GDP by the end of this Parliament, ahead of the schedule originally set out by the Prime Minister last year. In 2025, Starmer had pledged to reach 2.5 per cent from April 2027 and 3 per cent during the next Parliament.
But since then, the international outlook has changed dramatically, with increasing demands from Donald Trump for European Nato allies to spend more on defence, Russia stepping up its hybrid war activity, including through its shadow fleet in the waters around the UK, and the conflict in Iran.
While Starmer’s critics on the Labour benches have accused the Prime Minister of acting too slowly on the domestic agenda, he can stake a claim to have enhanced the UK’s standing on the international stage.
Under Starmer, the UK has forged a deeper relationship with its European Nato allies in France, Germany and Poland, and resisted pressure from Trump to join the war in Iran.
If he is still Prime Minister by July, Starmer is also set to meet Trump at the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey. The publication of the Defence Investment Plan will help rebuild bridges with the US President after the falling out over the Iran conflict.
Whatever happens to his premiership in the wake of the Makerfield by-election on 18 June, which Burnham is tipped to win, the publication of the Defence Investment Plan next week would allow Starmer to carve out a legacy on national and international security.
However, defence firms and opposition parties have complained that the delay to publication, from its original expected date of last autumn, has caused more uncertainty to the UK defence industry and armed forces at a time when other countries are spending more on building up their armaments.
Leave a comment