Where £80,000,000,000 a year will be spent in the UK’s Defence Investment Plan

After months of delay and the resignations of two defence ministers, Sir Keir Starmer has finally announced his investment plan for the British armed forces.

It doesn’t include quite as much money as the Ministry of Defence was asking for – a key reason why John Healey and Al Carns stepped down – but the PM says its impact will be transformative.

In a speech at defence firm Molloy Aeronautics this morning, he said £80 billion a year will be spent on defence by 2029.

With Chancellor Rachel Reeves trying to reduce the government’s reliance on borrowing, much of the extra cash will come from cuts to other government plans.

Starmer picked out road and energy projects as being among those that will ‘not go ahead right now’ – though he did not specify which.

The PM also highlighted a new military landscape where tanks, warships and piloted planes are declining in significance compared to drones and autonomous vehicles.

Downing Street has set out some of the big-money items that are set to receive a wad of government cash now the investment plan has been finalised.

They include:

• More than £63 billion will be spent over the next four years on a new nuclear warhead, Dreadnought and SSN-AUKUS submarines, and other work on the nuclear deterrent
• More than £5 billion on a drone ‘transformation’, including £650 million on expendable drones and other uncrewed vehicles heavily inspired by warfare innovations in Ukraine
• £11 billion to increase stockpiles of munitions and weapons
• More than £8 billion for a programme to develop and build a  next-generation stealth fighter jet for the RAF, working with Japan and Italy
• £26 billion – including some of the nuclear deterrent cash – for a major project to upgrade several of the UK’s naval bases
• £790 million to protect the UK and its overseas bases from ‘air, drone and missile threats’, with new radar and sensor systems and investment in Directed Energy Weapons
• £900 million on an efficiency drive to save more money in the long run, including investment in AI to boost productivity
• £100 million to ramp up the deployment of AI capabilities for the UK armed forces – and £115 million to protect against AI threats

Starmer said ‘every pound in this plan will work twice’, reinforcing national security while also providing jobs and economic growth.

Dan Jarvis, who replaced Healey as Defence Secretary, said: ‘I have secured more money and made different choices for defence.

‘We will invest £298 billion over the next four years. That includes an additional £15 billion, of which most is extra day-to-day spending for training and improving availability of ships and aircraft to increase our war-fighting readiness.

‘By choosing to embrace new technology, I am equipping our troops with the autonomous systems which will give them the edge on the battlefield.’

However, the Conservatives argued the plan is ‘not worth the paper it’s written on’, as Starmer has already stepped down as Prime Minister and his successor – almost certainly Andy Burnham – could alter it.

The Tory shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said: ‘The next Prime Minitser needs to cut welfare and give our armed forces the funding they need to keep Britain safe.’

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