As global threats increase, the UK government has once again pushed back its ten-year plan for investment in defence.
It will now be published in the summer, back from the original due date of last autumn.
The repeated delays are said to come from concerns about how much should be spent on defence.
It’s believed there is a gap of some £28 billion over the next four years, based on its existing plans.
Yet the media is running reports that UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves will only commit less than £10 billion, leading to fears that the UK will fall behind.
Reeves is concerned that spending more will breach fiscal rules and raise taxes.
Any headroom she might have had at the start of the year has been destroyed due to the US/Iran war.
Defence secretary John Healy is pressing for increased spending.
Joining him in the push for more money is Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, who was defence secretary under Tony Blair and is a former NATO secretary-general.
Robertson claimed that PM Keir Starmer displays a gap between his action and rhetoric on defence, and that he was not prepared to make the necessary investment in defence.
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