Starmer says some capital projects on roads and energy being shelved to fund Dip
Starmer gives more details of those capital cuts.
It means departments making better use of assets like underused land, and it means those departments with the largest capital budgets contributing more.
Therefore, some capital projects, for example on roads and energy, which are important but not immediately vital, will no longer go ahead as planned.
But this is about taking the necessary choices, the right choices to protect our nation.
And he goes on to confirm the new spending totals.
Now we are already delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the 1980s – £270 billion over the spending review period.
And I can announce today that under the defence investment plan, we are increasing this by a further £15bn, setting a new record of spending almost £300bn over the next four years to back our armed forces and strengthen our national security.
Key events
Starmer says mood in Moscow ‘turning against Putin’s war’
Starmer ended by talking about Ukraine.
There are clear signs that, as Russia’s losses mount and their economy struggles, the mood in Moscow is turning against Putin’s war.
So this is the moment to ramp up the pressure, backing Ukraine’s defence and turning the screws on Russia’s economy. And that is what we’re doing.
Starmer announces £50bn defence export facility to help defence firms
Starmer says the Dip will make the armed forces more effective.
He says it will also boost the economy.
The government is creating a £50bn defence export facility to support British defence businesses, he says.
And he says the plan will also strengthen the UK’s position with its defence allies.
Starmer says defence spending can’t be ‘bottomless pit’, and MoD has to ‘spend better’
Starmer says in the past defence spending “has sometimes been seen as a bottomless pit”.
But this time will be different, he says.
We can’t just spend more. We’ve got to spend better. That includes driving real reforms within the Ministry of Defence to get greater value from our investment, accelerating innovation and procurement, and reducing non-military spending, for example, on civil service staff.
Starmer says he is on course to get defence spending up to 3% of GDP.
We are raising it to 2.7%, putting us on a trajectory to reach 3% in the next parliament, which must be the number one priority at the next spending review.
At last year’s Nato summit, I committed to spend 5% of GDP on our wider security, covering things like energy security and critical infrastructure as well as defence.
The defence investment plan published today takes us to 4.2%.
Starmer says some capital projects on roads and energy being shelved to fund Dip
Starmer gives more details of those capital cuts.
It means departments making better use of assets like underused land, and it means those departments with the largest capital budgets contributing more.
Therefore, some capital projects, for example on roads and energy, which are important but not immediately vital, will no longer go ahead as planned.
But this is about taking the necessary choices, the right choices to protect our nation.
And he goes on to confirm the new spending totals.
Now we are already delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the 1980s – £270 billion over the spending review period.
And I can announce today that under the defence investment plan, we are increasing this by a further £15bn, setting a new record of spending almost £300bn over the next four years to back our armed forces and strengthen our national security.
Starmer says Dip funded by 1% cuts in capital budgets from other departments
Starmer says the Dip is fully costed.
You have some people in this debate who underplay the threat and deny the need to prioritise defence and security.
You also have those who say you can fund defence without making sacrifices in other areas of capital spending, and you have those arguing that we can just raise borrowing.
But let’s be clear defence bonds [an idea promoted by the Liberal Democrats] are just borrowing by another name.
We’ve looked at this very carefully, but the fact is doing this through borrowing would push interest rates higher at a time when £1 in every ten already goes on paying debt interest, and this government has fought hard to bring the public finances under control, and it has paid off, helping to bring inflation and mortgage rates down.
Starmer says this settlement is within the fiscal rules.
The settlement I’m setting out today is the right choice for the country.
It delivers the decisive action we need on defence in a way that is within our fiscal rules, and that will not take resources away from day to day spending on frontline services like health and education.
Instead, this funded by reallocating spending from across government departments, reallocating capital budgets by one penny in every pound, while still maintaining public investment at the highest sustained levels since the 1970s.
Starmer says the Dip delivers on the strategic defence review, but goes further.
And he says he is confident Andy Burnham will build on it.
Ahead of the Nato summit next week, this plan represents our best judgement of what the country needs to meet this moment, and it is a platform on which I know my successor will build.
Starmer says, to preserve peace, Britain must prepare for war.
We want our people to be able to live in a world defined by peace, stability, and the rule of law.
But the paradox of peace is that when the world is arming and aggression is rising, the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it.
The best way to defend is to deter, to have the strength to make your adversaries think again before they act.
Starmer praises Nato, but says European countries must spend more on their own defence.
My view has been the same since day one. We must stand more firmly on our own two feet. We must do what it takes to meet this new world head on, to keep our country safe and seize the opportunities that come from investing in our sovereign strength.
Starmer also says Ukraine has shown how war is changing.
We also see on the battlefield in Ukraine that the very nature of conflict is changing before our eyes.
Despite having a limited navy, limited traditional air power and limited armour, Ukrainian forces have destroyed the Black Sea Fleet.
They struck deep into Russian territory and stopped the advance of one of the biggest armies in the world.
How have they done that? Through sheer courage, yes, but also by embracing technology.
They’ve integrated drones into their fighting like never before, understanding that the ability to innovate and produce at speed and at scale is more vital than ever to military power.
Starmer says he knows people are worried about the state of world, and the threats to security.
And not all threats are remote, he says.
We see foreign states targeting our nation as well. Thugs hired by foreign powers conducting violence, vandalism and arson on our streets, disinformation aimed at sowing division and stoking disorder, spreading lies and undermining our democracy.
This was in part a reference to the Russian-led plot that led arson attacks on properties linked to Starmer himself.
