Keir Starmer can’t afford not to hike defence spending

Over the last few years, defence spending has been higher up the political agenda than at any time since the end of the Cold War. The scale, intensity and sheer cost of the war in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in February 2022 provided a shock to the system – but it only reinforced what many of us had known for a long time: the United Kingdom’s military capabilities in every domain are underfunded, stretched beyond endurance and often non-functional. But is Keir Starmer now avoid increasing defence spending at all?

Last February, the House of Commons defence committee published a report entitled Ready for War?. It had damning conclusions. The armed forces ‘have capability shortfalls and stockpile shortages, and are losing personnel faster than they can recruit them… [and] are also consistently overstretched’. The following month, the Public Accounts Committee reported on the Ministry of Defence’s Equipment Plan 2023-2033. It found a staggering deficit of at least £16.9